Budget season is really a year-round event in Charlottesville, as my reporting can attest. But on Monday, Council was formally introduced to the spending plans for both Charlottesville local government and Charlottesville City Schools. The school system went first.
“Our proposed budget for FY24 is $107,128,647 and that is a budget change of $212,416,” said Superintendent Royal Gurley.
School Board Chair James Bryant thanked Council for their collaboration this year on addressing the school bus driver shortage and the recent purchase of Albemarle County’s share of the Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center.
“Working together, we can meet both the needs of high schoolers and adult learners,” Bryant said. “We can also work to address the city’s workforce development goals to meet the needs of our area employers.”
Bryant said he will return to Council in the near future with more details about the transition. No changes will occur at CATEC until July 1, 2024.
City Councilor Leah Puryear thanked Dr. Gurley and Bryant for their presentation. She spent sixteen years on the School Board alongside fellow Councilor Juandiego Wade.
“And this City Council understands that we must make this city whole for everyone,” Puryear said. “The children in our school division will be the children that sit here, that do your jobs, and do whatever else is done in this community.”
Then it was interim City Manager Michael C. Roger’s turn to introduce the budget for FY24.
“We are submitting to you tonight a balanced budget as required by charter of $226,239,155 which represents a 6.27 percent increase over the FY23 budget,” Rogers said.
There is no actual budget book available for people to read through. Instead, community members must navigate through an online portal.
“This is our first year with an online budget book,” said Krisy Hamill, the city’s director of budget and performance.
And it’s going to take me some time to go through the document as well because I’m not used to looking at it this way. As such, details on what’s in the budget in a future edition of the program. For now, know that there are no new tax rate increases anticipated. Much more in the near future.
Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment comes from the March 8, 2023 edition of the program. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.
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