Greene County holds first reading of FY25 budget; Final vote on May 14

One sign of spring in Virginia is the adoption of municipal budgets by elected officials. On April 23, Greene County Supervisors took the first of two steps toward approving a revenue and spending plan for fiscal year 2025 on April 23. 

“While no one got everything they wanted, this final version does deliver meaningful tax cuts, funds essential services, and allows us to add to areas that are critical for a well-functioning government,” said Greene County Administrator Cathy Schafrik. 

There were two public hearings that night on both the budget itself as well as the setting of tax rates. During the budget cycle, Supervisors reached consensus to cut the real estate tax rate two cents to $0.71 per $100 of assessed value. This was done in a year in which a reassessment did not occur meaning $1.3 million needed to be eliminated from the budget. 

Michelle Hildebrand is the treasurer of the Ruckersville Volunteer Fire Department and during the public hearing she spoke up for more spending on fire rescue services to ensure they can do their work. 

“According to my records, the county funding, excluding any apparatus lump-sums, have remained the same over the last ten years for the Ruckersville Fire Department,” Hildebrand said. “In 2015, the county funded approximately $14.14 per capita for each citizen residing in the Ruckersville area zip codes. In 2025, the proposed budget, the per capita funding decreases to $12.42 due to the increased population.”

Hildebrand said that number doesn’t take inflation into account and the volunteer agency is experiencing higher costs and aging equipment. She asked for an additional $50,000 from the county government to help the all volunteer organization make ends meet. 

“This is not a situation where we can fundraise ourselves out of it,” Hildebrand said. 

Another speaker thanked county staff for holding spending in the budget to just a little over inflation. Another urged that more attention and care go into construction of a new building to house the social services department. 

After that public hearing, Supervisors discussed potential options to proceed. Schafrik had provided additional information four days before the meeting. One variable during the process that continued to shift was the revenue that would come from the personal property tax. 

“We are seeing a return to more normal used car values since the pandemic,” Schafrik said. “They spiked up crazily in the pandemic era when there was supply-demand issues with the chips being unavailable for new cars.” 

Schafrik said as of April 18, there was roughly $500,000 in additional revenues available due to more accurate numbers. The original budget was based on a more conservative estimate. She prepared two different scenarios for how to proceed. 

Both options would add one Sheriff’s Deputy position and budget for development of a master plan for county parks. 

“One of the things that that would help do is, as we talk about these opportunities for parks, it looks at existing inventory where we may have land,” Schafrik said. “I’ve heard at Board meetings, people have said ‘we should take the land behind Food Lion and put a pocket park there.’”

Schafrik said a master plan would do the due diligence to determine if such ideas are feasible. 

One scenario would restore cuts to information technology infrastructure and the addition of 2.5 full-time equivalents, a term in government to describe the municipal workforce. The other would not restore the cuts or add the positions, but would put $324,000 toward a future recreation center that would be funded by the increase in the lodging tax rate. 

Supervisor Francis McGuigan is a proponent of the second option.

“My belief is that the transient occupancy tax, what I had envisioned the proposal when we made the increase, is that that money be earmarked into a recreation center fund that can’t be used for any other purpose,” McGuigan said. 

McGuigan said Greene needs to begin preparing to pay for capital projects to invest in the future and this would be a step in that direction. 

One of the suggested positions was a deputy county administrator. The Board reached consensus to not proceed with that at the moment. They also agreed to direct staff to pursue a reassessment. Adoption of the budget will be on May 14. 

There were no speakers for the public hearing on the real estate and personal property tax rates. Supervisors did vote unanimously to adopt the new rates and voted to increase the transient lodging tax rate from five percent to eight percent. 

“This would be on all hotels, campgrounds, Air-BnB’s, things of that nature,” Schafrik said. 

The new rate will go into effect on July 1.

The budget will be formally adopted at the Supervisors’ meeting on May 14 after a second reading. 

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 May 1, 2024 edition of the newsletter. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.