Greene Supervisors to hold public hearing on $91.3M budget for FY2025

The five-member Board of Supervisors in Greene County will meet at 5:30 p.m. for a closed session followed by an open session at 6:30 p.m. They meet in the County Administration Building Meeting Room in Stanardsville. (meeting info)

After the regular start to the meeting, there will be a public hearing on the budget for fiscal year 2025. There is both the original recommendation and an “adjustments” version created with updated information that states Supervisors have $519,557 to make adjustments. 

County Administrator Cathy Schafrik has provided two scenarios for Supervisors to consider, both of this include adding an additional sheriff’s deputy position at a cost of $110,00 a year as well as $140,000 toward a parks and recreation master plan.  

One of the scenarios would create a new position of deputy county administrator, an animal control officer and a half-time position for emergency management. This position would also restore about $130,000 in various cuts made to various departments.

The other scenario would put $324,000 toward a future recreation center and hold $85,557 in a contingency reserve. 

There will also be a public hearing on the tax rates which are set at the following levels:

• $0.71 per $100 of assessed value for real estate tax, a decrease from the current level
• $0.71 per $100 of assessed value for land owned by public service corporations
• $4.50 per $100 of assessed value for personal property tax
• $2.50 per $100 of assessed value for industrial machinery and tools 
• Farm machinery and livestock is exempt 

The third public hearing is related to the personal property tax rate and sets the tax relief computation. This is related to the 1998 Personal Property Tax Relief Act.

A fourth public hearing is on raising the transient occupancy tax from five percent to eight percent. (resolution)

The final public hearing of the evening is on a resolution to allow the county to levy a lower personal property tax rate for people who volunteer at a fire department. (staff report)

There is one action item seeking a letter of support for a firm called Holistic Apothecary Virginia LLC to operate a “pharmaceutical processor facility” in Ruckersville. The company is applying for a particular license from the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority. The LLC is part of a larger enterprise.

“C3 Industries, a minority-owned vertically integrated cannabis company, informed us that they have scaled 255,000 sf. of cultivation and manufacturing space that produces $80M in sales per year, as well as opened twenty-one (21) state-of-the-art dispensaries, with an additional fifteen (15) dispensaries underway,” reads the letter. 

Greene County is among many localities within what’s known to the VCCA as Health Service Area 1. It costs $18,000 to apply. 

“The permit will allow the selected processor to engage in vertically integrated operations, including the cultivation of cannabis plants, production of cannabis products, and dispensation to qualified patients,” reads the VCCA website. 

A decision on who the VCCA will choose will be made on June 26, 2024. 

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 is from the April 22, 2024 Week Ahead edition of the newsletter.