Suffolk City Council will learn more about the potential financial impact of providing a real estate tax exemption for surviving spouses of first responders killed in the line of duty at its Wednesday work session.

Councilman Mike Duman broached the subject at a June council meeting in the wake of the May 31 mass shooting in Virginia Beach.

He first brought up the issue in November 2017, making a motion to ask for a report, but no one seconded the motion at that time. He said with other localities such as Virginia Beach, Isle of Wight County and Chesapeake having enacted such an ordinance, it should give the city a better idea of its potential fiscal impact.

Duman cited a letter from City Manager Patrick Roberts in 2018 that stated the average assessed value of homes in Suffolk is $237,500, with the maximum impact of $2,636.25 per individual. Duman said the scenario to trigger such a payment would be if a first responder were to die while on duty, or within five years of the end of duty, as long as the person’s death related to their line of work.

City Attorney Helivi Holland said the council would have a right to give the exemption, and would have the right to stop giving it. Both, she said at the June meeting, would have to be approved by ordinance.

Holland told the council that the Virginia Retirement System reviews all applications for the real estate tax exemption and determines if they meet the exemption requirements.

The council will also hold a joint meeting with the School Board during its work session, and will receive a presentation about the possible creation of no wake zones along navigable waterways within the city.

During the council’s regular meeting, it will have public hearings on the following items:

• An ordinance to rezone property at 213 Kilby Ave. from general commercial to residential medium density.
• An ordinance to grant a conditional use permit to establish a home day care at 628 Adkins Circle.
• An ordinance to grant a conditional use permit to establish a place of worship on property at 152 S. Saratoga St.
• An ordinance to amend part of the city’s unified development ordinance to provide the Director of Planning and Community Development the approving authority for all preliminary and final subdivision plats, with the Planning Commission serving as the approving authority for all family transfer subdivisions.

The council is also scheduled to take up an ordinance to amend previously approved proffer conditions for a 43-unit single family attached residential development slated for the corner of Bennett’s Pasture Road and Driver Lane. The ordinance, if approved, would remove proffer requirements for the developer at the middle school level. It would also require a proffer of $4,037.21 for each home at the high school level to advance capacity for the projected six students it expects to generate from the development.