Recently Cape Charles officials met with Northampton County officials to discuss why Cape Charles residents comprise about 9 percent of the county's population, but pay 22 percent of the county's real-estate taxes.

Homeowners in Cape Charles can appreciate their town officials speaking out on their behalf. County officials responded by saying residents can not expect to receive dollar-for-dollar return on their taxes because that is not how the Commonwealth operates, and that Cape Charles residents receive many county-wide and regional services.

"Cape Charles residents comprise about 9 percent of the county's population and pay 22 percent of real-estate taxes in Northampton County.

The Board of Supervisors held a rare joint meeting with the Cape Charles Town Council on Thursday to discuss county tax revenues generated by the town and what services town taxpayers can expect in return.

'Is Cape Charles going to continue to be the cash cow?' Town Councilman Larry Veber asked.

'We've raised our water, we've raised our sewer, we've raised our garbage,' Veber said of the cost of town services. 'Now we've raised taxes. Residents ask me, "What do we get in return?" Help us understand so we can go back to our people and say, "This is what we've got, folks."'

Members of the board of supervisors, while acknowledging the county needs to find new revenue sources, cautioned against expecting dollar-for-dollar services for their tax investment. Officials also said the county is trying to lessen the tax burden dependence on real-estate and personal property taxes, which account for 80 percent of county revenues, by creating new revenue streams.

The county has not yet adopted a policy, but County Administrator Katie Nunez suggested a healthy tax approach is to move toward 70 percent residential vs. 30 percent commercial."

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