HARRISONBURG, Va. (ROCKTOWN NOW) – The proposed Harrisonburg City budget for 2024-2025 was unveiled at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. Pending council’s approval, the citywide budget would amount to $404.9 million, with a large chunk of the funds allocated for the newly built Rocktown High School.

Zoning items also dominated the meeting’s agenda, including a request for a popular Harrisonburg tattoo shop to move into a bigger space.

An increased budget

City manager Ande Banks presented the proposed budget for next year, which is slated to include a hike of more than $42 million over the 2024-2024 budget.

The majority of the budget’s increase will go toward Harrisonburg City Public Schools’ operating expenses, and filling positions at Rocktown High School as it prepares to open in the Fall, with more than $6 million being transferred to Harrisonburg City Public Schools.

According to Banks, the need to fund Rocktown High School proved to be one of the biggest challenges is drafting next year’s budget, along with the need to

In order to accommodate that increase, the proposed budget includes an 8-cent tax increase. Banks said the proposed budget will also cover raises for city employees, as well as the city’s share of their health insurance, based on feedback from employees regarding their benefits package.

“One of the important takeaways was the crucial essence of healthcare coverage for our employees,” Banks said. “So, this budget also proposes increasing the employer contribution to those costs from 75 percent to 78 percent, also thereby leaving some money in the pockets of our employees.”

The budget also includes several capital improvement projects, including renovations for the city’s old municipal building, and year-round services for the Westover Park pool dome.

During the portion toward the end of the meeting for comments from the council members, Chris Jones took his moment to urge the public to take part and show up as the city reviews the proposed budget.

“I’ll make the same plea I make every year, which is I hope the benches and the seats in this room are full, as we discuss more than $4 million,” Jones said. “It’s just always heartbreaking to me that we talk about politics that are federal or statewide with city council, but when we’re dealing with our funds, or the functionality of those funds, the room gets empty. So, I hope that you all join us over the next three to four meetings so you can see the implementation process, and really get an understanding of the inner workings of the city.”

A public hearing for the proposed 2024-2025 budget is set for the next Harrisonburg city council meeting, with another public hearing on the city’s real estate tax rate planned for the following meeting. The budget is expected to be adopted in late May.

Alley Cat Tattoo to relocate

Alley Cat Tattoo will move into a bigger location with more room for parking after city council approved a special use permit for the tattoo shop at Tuesday night’s meeting.

The shop won’t go far – just a few blocks from their current location on Reservoir Street to the street’s 200 block, which required the SUP for Alley Cat’s designation as a “personal service establishment,” which includes tattoo shops in the city’s ordinance. Nick Swartz, one of Alley Cat’s owners, told city council that the move will be better for business, especially with better parking accommodations at the new building.

“We’ve been there on the corner for 23 years, so it’s time we own our building,” Swartz said. “I think business will improve as a result; we’ve had people tell me that the [current] parking lot keeps people away.”

The building at 220 Reservoir Street, where Alley Cat got council’s approval to operate, is currently the location for Wampler & Associates Rehabilitation.

An earlier version of this story reported that the proposed 8-cent tax increase will cover raises for Harrisonburg City employees. This was a mistake – the proposed tax increase is entirely focused on the increased request, while employee raises will be covered only by natural revenue growth. The story has been updated to include the correction.