City Manager Says Move Could Attract At Least One Company

The city manager of Newport News, VA is trying to convince the City Council to pass a tax break for aircraft, but he's running into a lot of opposition on the panel.

The Newport News Daily Press reports that City Manager Jim Bourey had proposed a cut in the city's personal property tax rate for aircraft of about 75 percent back in February, but the council would not approve the measure.

Bourey had said that cutting the rate to 50 cents per $100 of valuation might attract at least one company to locate in the city, and taxes paid by that company would more than offset the $200,000 in lost revenue from the tax. But Councilwoman Pat Woodbury, Sharon Scott, Tina Vick, and Saundra Cherry said that they wanted some assurance that a company would move in to take up the slack.

The tax makes it more expensive to keep an airplane in Newport News than in nearby cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Suffolk, Bourey said.

There are 114 airplanes on the city's tax rolls, according to the report.

Bourey is also chair of the Peninsula Airport Commission, which has responsibility for the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport.

FMI: www.nngov.com/271/City-Council