Henrico County homeowners would get no relief from rising assessments under County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett's proposed budget for the year beginning July 1.

The Board of Supervisors received the $1.234 billion capital and operating spending plan last night along with a dour forecast linked to national inflationary concerns, high fuel costs and a state budget shortfall.

"It's an extremely uncertain economic environment," Hazelett said in an interview. "We don't know the severity or the duration."

Henrico's real-estate tax rate would hold at 87 cents per $100 of assessed value, despite a 2.6 percent increase in reassessments of residential properties.

The 87-cent rate would mean the owner of a home assessed at $300,000 would pay $2,610 per year in taxes. To avoid a net tax increase next year, the supervisors would have to cut the rate to 84 cents, officials said.

Overall, the assessed value of all real estate, including commercial reassessments and new construction, rose by 6 percent since last year.

The operating budget represents an 8 percent increase over this year's budget, and it includes, for the first time, payments made by employees and retirees to the county's self-insured health-care plan. If those payments -- previously made to a third-party insurer -- were excluded, the budget increase would be 6.1 percent, Hazelett said.

The board will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget and tax rates on April 8. Adoption is set for April 22.

In other business, the supervisors voted 5-0 to approve a development plan for a new high school on Staples Mill Road in Glen Allen. The school, designed to serve 1,850 students, is slated to open in the fall of 2010. About eight residents spoke during the public hearing and expressed concerns and asked questions about traffic and lighting impacts, drainage and pedestrian access.

County officials agreed to try to build the school so it meets environmentally friendly standards of the U.S. Green Building Council. It would be Henrico's first school to receive LEED -- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design -- certification.

Construction is expected to start in August on the 96-acre site on the west side of Staples Mill Road, just south of Springfield Road and Interstate 295.

The $73 million school will include two stories spread over 255,000 square feet. A commons area will connect the two academic wings with the auditorium and gymnasium. The project is being designed so a career and technical education center could be built later, but that would require additional funding.

The high school will be Henrico's first high school since Deep Run opened in 2002. The School Board hasn't yet outlined a process to set attendance boundaries, but the school is expected to relieve overcrowding at Hermitage High School and to accommodate future growth at Deep Run.

Another high school is tentatively scheduled to open in 2013 near Elko Middle on Elko Road in far eastern Henrico.
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.