MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Saying the levy rate has gone down
5.3% in past five years, the Berkeley County Council on Tuesday announced it has adopted a
proposed reduction of the levy rate, the third such reduction in five years.
A press release issued Tuesday afternoon says “For the 2023-2024 Fiscal Year, the Berkeley County
Council approved a levy rate of 13.39, reducing the rate from the previous year’s rate of 13.81. The new levy rate for 2023-2024 is
projected to generate $26,690,956 million in property taxes in support of Berkeley County’s
next fiscal year budget to help fund County government services.
In addition to property taxes, an additional $23.4 million in miscellaneous revenue is projected
to be generated, giving the county a total budget estimate of $50,100,366 for 2023-2024 Fiscal
Year.”
The 2023-2024 Fiscal Year begins on July 1, 2023 and ends on June 30, 2024.
From the Berkeley County Council’s Press Release:
“We have tried to do more with less – we’ve done our due diligence with the taxpayers’
money,” Berkeley County Council President James P. Whitacre said Tuesday.
“Almost every county office and department has a neutral budget from last year. Whitacre also
commended the work of various department leaders and staff for efforts to contain costs.
“In light of all the inflation that is occurring, we’ve done our best to minimize the impact on the
taxpayers.”
The county’s 2023-2024 fiscal year budget includes allocations for 67 uniformed law
enforcement positions, 22 paid firefighters and support for major capital improvement projects,
as well as funding to meet requests by county departments and offices, and outside agencies.
Major capital improvement projects in 2023-2024 include heating and air conditioning
upgrades to the Berkeley County Courthouse – Judicial Center at 380 West South Street; public
accessibility-focused renovations to the County Administration building at 400 West King Street
and construction of an addition to the Berkeley County Day Report Center at 520 South Raleigh
Street.
In the new budget, the county also is eyeing opportunities for providing additional support for
Public Safety through grant funding and contingencies, Whitacre said.
Berkeley County Administrator Alan Davis commended the Berkeley County Council for efforts
to reduce the levy rate.
With the reduction, the levy rate has been reduced by 5.3% in five years, Davis noted. Previous
levy rate reductions were made by the county’s governing body in 2018 and in 2022. Prior to
the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the levy rate was 14.10.
“I think this is a very, very good budget,” Davis said