Concurrently with Virginia’s election for governor of Virginia, Virginia Beach held a referendum in which residents of the 450,000-strong Atlantic Ocean city overwhelmingly approved a 73% municipal bond and property tax hike to fund the protection infrastructure. from hurricanes, floods and other climate-related natural disasters.
These measures should bring the city $ 568 million, which will go towards building defensive dams, raising highways, converting the golf course into a storm water collection, building additional pumping stations to pump water and other defensive infrastructure.
Property taxes will rise from $ 115 to $ 171 per year for a home with a median assessed value. But the municipal authorities admit that these measures will not solve all the problems, since the money will only be enough for a third of the costs necessary for the construction of protective structures. The city will try to get additional money for these purposes from the federal government.
Newspaper headline:
Hurricane taxes
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