Mayor William Carson listened intently as Commissioner of Revenue, Cathy Kimberlin, spoke on the Personal Property Tax Relief Allocation.

Covington City Council Discusses Tax Exemptions for Widows of Fallen First Responders, Personal Property Relief, and Mountain Rush By Jennifer Bailey Staff Writer Covington, VA (Apr. 8, 2025)— During Covington City Council's regular monthly meeting, Officer Christopher "C.J." Smith reminded council of an ordinance he spoke on in March called the "Tax Exemption for Widows of Fallen First Responders." Essentially, the exemption would make the widows' homes tax free should their spouses lose their life in the line of duty. "It covers fire department, EMS workers, emergency managers, and it has to be in the line of duty." After a brief discussion by council, the ordinance passed unanimously. Cathy Kimberlin, Commissioner of Revenue, also shared with council some information regarding the 2025 Personal Property Relief Allocation. "This is something that we have to do every year," Kimberlin said. "It goes back to the Personal Property Tax Relief Act" that started in 1998. If you remember, personal property tax was supposed to be phased out over a certain number of years and it got to 70% and it stayed there until 2005 when they decided they couldn't keep doing it that way." Therefore, the money was capped at $950 million annually with the City of Covington receiving their portion of $545,478.17. "So each year when I have to calculate to do my book, how much discount I can give based on that amount of money, plus any money that carries over from prior years... so this year, I have calculated the discount at 43.5%." After a quick vote, the resolution passed unanimously. City Manager Allen Dressler then gave his manager's report, speaking first on the progress of the Rivermont School building. "We are all excited about where we're at and we hope that within the next 60 days that we go to bid on the project... Also, I have been in communication back and forth with Susan Hammond. Just a quick update, the Rayon Bridge is still on tap with the original schedule set for it. There's been quite a bit of surveying going on, and also, the Hawthorne Street Bridge, we are looking July/August to go to bid with that." Dressler noted a few "hiccups" when going through the Department of Transportation, but that project seems to be underway. The city manager also noted that he'd been in touch with Mountain Rush, the company who recently purchased the building at 410 on Main. According to Dressler, a soft opening is expected to occur at the end of this month.

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