Tax Changes
Admissions, Machinery Fees Will Go To Town
The town of Goshen will begin collecting additional tax revenue in the upcoming fiscal year and will turn collection of the fee for annual car decals over to the county, following unanimous decisions by the Town Council last week.
At its regular meeting last Tuesday, the Goshen Town Council voted to take over collection of any admissions taxes and machinery and tools taxes that would be charged in the town of Goshen beginning July 1. The taxes are currently being collected by the county, and the Town Council doesn’t plan to increase the tax rates for either. The members just want to keep the revenues from those taxes in the town.
“If the tax is being charged in Goshen, the money should stay in Goshen,” Goshen Vice Mayor Steve Bickley said. “They shouldn’t be charging a tax in Goshen and [have] that money going to other parts of the county. If it’s charged here, it should stay here.”
The town will see revenue from these taxes when the proposed manufacturing shop for log cabin tiny homes and museum and repair shop for the Virginia Mechanical Preservation Society opens in the old Stillwater Worsted Mills plant in the town.
Bickley made a motion for the town to begin collecting the machinery and tools tax at the same rate the county currently charges, which is $2.55 per $100 based on 100 percent valuation of the equipment. He also made a motion to collect at the admissions tax at a rate of 6 percent with a maximum tax of $3, which was the county’s admissions tax rate in 2023. Last year, the county set the admissions tax at 6 percent with no cap on the tax amount. Shelia Sampson seconded the motion for the tools and equipment tax and Derrick Ogden seconded the motion for the admissions tax. Both motions passed in 5-0 votes.
Council also voted to turn collection of annual vehicle decal fees to the county, with Bickley again making the motion. Chris Robertson provided the second, and the motion carried in a 5-0 vote.
The cost for the decal is $20 per vehicle and residents are supposed to buy a new one every year. Bickley told Council that, according to county records, there are around 360 vehicles currently registered in the town and the town is only selling around 120 decals per year.
“We have no enforcement mechanism,” he said. “We have no way to make people buy their decals, so it’s kind of like an honor system. People do it if they want to do it, they don’t do it if they don’t [want to] and there’s really no penalty for anybody.”
With the vote, the county will begin adding a $20 registration fee to the personal property taxes for the vehicles registered in the town of Goshen and will turn that money over to the town after it is collected. The town will provide residents with a decal upon receiving proof that the fee has been paid to the county from the vehicle’s owner. That change will go into effect in 2026 and will be a recurring fee with the personal property tax.
