Today is the fifth Monday of April, the kind of day when there are almost never regular meetings of elected officials. Except when there are.
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors skipped their regular second meeting on the third Monday so tonight’s the night instead. The seven elected officials meet in the Louisa County Public Meeting Room in the main administration building. They will begin with a closed session at 5 p.m. followed by a open session at 6 p.m. (agenda)
Here are some items from the consent agenda of interest:
- May is Older Americans Month and the theme is “Powered By Connection” according to the Administration for Community Living (resolution)
- Louisa County will set aside $330,000 to help cover cost of worker’s compensation claims in FY24 (resolution)
- Supervisors will formally create the Tourism Advisory Committee to advise the Board on tourism marketing initiatives. Funding comes from the transient lodging tax by state code. (resolution)
- Louisa County is applying for a federal grant to hire 12 firefighters through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response. If awarded, the grant would allow full 24-hour staffing of one fire engine. The Federal Emergency Management Agency program would pay the nearly $1.1 million cost for three years before Louisa would have to pick up the tab. (resolution)
- Louisa County is currently without an official municipal attorney and like Charlottesville have a firm serving in the capacity. This was an unanticipated expense and so Supervisors will approve a $200,000 budget supplement. (resolution)
Under information items there are discussions for items that don’t have material in the packet. Forgive me for the very spare words here.
- One is on the shoreline ordinance amendments that have recently been discussed.
- The other is on a survey for parks and recreation projects.
At this meeting, Supervisors will establish tax rates for FY25 and adopt the operating and capital budgets. Here are the tax rates:
- The real estate tax rate is at $0.72 per $100 of assessed value
- The personal property tax rate is at $2.43 per $100 of assessed value
- The business personal property tax rate is at $1.90 per $100 of assessed value
- There is a special rate for data centers per the agreement with Amazon. This is at $1.25 per $100 of assessed value.
- The machinery and tools tax rate is at $1.90 per $100 of assessed value
- Merchant’s capital is taxed at $0.65 per $100 of assessed value
- Aircraft is assessed at $0.48 per $100 of assessed value
The public hearing for the $156,169,348 operating and maintenance budget was held on April 8, 2024. (view a two-page summary of the budget)
The public hearing for the $81,142,859 capital improvement program budget for FY25 was also held on April 8, 2024. The two big expenditures for the year are a $29,470,000 million addition at Louisa County Middle School and $31,662,000 for the Career and Technical Education Center. Another is $7.5 million for an expansion of a wastewater treatment plant.
There are three other resolutions:
- There’s a resolution to authorize employment contracts with Louisa County Public School for the 24-25 academic year.
- There’s a resolution to proceed with the work on the middle school in the current fiscal year to get it moving so construction can happen over the summer.
- There’s a resolution to spend $3,251 to ensure no gap in administration of the Louisa County Reentry Council.
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 29, 2024 Week Ahead edition of the newsletter.
