Council to be presented with recommended FY25 budgets for local government, city schools

Tonight Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders will present his budget for Fiscal Year 2025. That’s one of several items on the agenda for the 6:30 p.m. regular meeting.

The regular meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. and the consent agenda includes several items worth note as they involve how millions in capital improvement funds will be used. 

• There is second reading of reallocation of $215,000 in previously allocated Community Development Block Grants for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank Cold Storage Project. I’ll have a story about that in the next regular newsletter. (staff report)
• There is a second reading of an amendment to the city’s rent relief program to change the way amounts are calculated. (staff report)
• There is a requested letter of support from the Piedmont Housing Alliance for a Low Income Housing Tax Credit application for the Park Street Christian Church apartments. To help them qualify in the process run by the agency formerly known as the Virginia Housing Development Authority, they also want the city to use a portion of the capital funds committed to the project for rental subsidies. (staff report)
• The Piedmont Housing Alliance is also seeking Low Income Housing Tax Credits for 71 apartments to be built at 501-A and 501-B Cherry Avenue. The draft five-year Capital Improvement Program anticipates $1 million to the project in FY26 and $2.15 million but those amounts cannot be guaranteed. Piedmont Housing Alliance wants ten rental subsidies to be carved out from that funding. The nonprofit organization also wants the area designated as a Revitalization Area. (staff report) (revitalization area staff report)

In the first action item, Council will be asked to support the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission’s Move Safely Blue Ridge initiative. That means having Council establish clear targets. 

“For Charlottesville’s safety targets, staff has recommended that the City of Charlottesville commit to an elimination of deaths and a 50 percent reduction in serious injuries resulting from roadway incidents,” reads the staff report. “While this may seem to be a more aggressive target than our more rural partners, in terms of absolute numbers, Charlottesville currently has a low number of roadway fatalities, with a total of 13 deaths in crashes between 2018 and 2022.” 

I wrote a story in February about this item going before the Nelson County and Greene County Board of Supervisors. 

After that, Charlottesville City Schools Superintendent Royal Gurley will present Council with his budget request for FY2025, followed by City Manager Sam Sanders’ recommended budget.  Will there be a property tax rate increase, or an increase in any of the other tax rates? Stay tuned. 

Next up is an ordinance to create a franchise agreement with Shenandoah Mobile. 

Under general business, the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail Authority will present the architectural design options for the renovation of the facility on Avon Street Extended. Albemarle County and Charlottesville will pay a share of the costs, as will Nelson County.  (view the presentation)

• Option #1 would address minimum deficiencies in the west wing with no work at all on the east wing. Total project cost is $25 million. 
• Option #2 would renovate both wings and address major deficiencies. Total project cost is $35 million. 
• Option #3 is the choice of the Jail Authority and one approved by the Virginia Board of Local and Regional Jails. This would renovate the west wing and replace the east wing with a new story facility. Total project cost would be $49 million, with a quarter of that to be reimbursed by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Finally, there will be a written report from the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee, a closed-door body that took the place of a public body subject to Virginia’s open meeting laws.

“In November 2019, City Council, Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and UVA approved dissolution of the PACC and established the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee (LUEPC) in order to broaden PACC’s collaboration beyond land use and to include environmental topics and sustainability,” reads the staff report.

The meetings are not open to the public and do not offer a forum for open dialogue between elected officials and University of Virginia officials. The LUEPC charter was also amended in 2023 to make clear that attendees are not to discuss the contents of the meetings. Here’s a story I wrote before that happened. 

Anyway, here’s the report.

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 4, 2024 Week Ahead. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.