Virginia Beach City Council is faced with a budget shortfall for their 2010-11 budget, and are attempting to solve the problem with either an increase in real estate tax or in a monthly garbage fee, according to The Virginian-Pilot.

Council members also dismissed a proposal to spend $95 million on seven big projects, including an animal shelter, recreation center, road construction and development of the former Dome site.

Homeowners need to get involved with their council now to be part of these discussions. While it is vital for the city to meet their budget needs to provide services to residents, there may be other ways to do so without further taxing homeowners, especially as the housing market is turning around and home values should be increasing over the next couple of years.

"Residents are unlikely to see their tax bills go down again next year.

Faced with a potential $49 million shortfall in the 2010- 11 budget, council members Tuesday floated the idea of raising the real estate tax rate and charging user fees for items such as trash pickup and ambulance service.

'We need further evaluation,' said Mayor Will Sessoms of the ideas discussed. 'This is a starting point.'

The City Council didn't commit to any one idea to fill the hole, but it instructed staff to study, for example, the budget impacts of raising the property tax rate by 2 cents to 91 cents for $100 of assessed value or charging an $8 monthly garbage fee. Virginia Beach doesn't have a separate fee for garbage."

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