The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is made up of five counties that surround Charlottesville including the city. For those interested in comparative government, the meetings of the Board of Commissioners are a glimpse into activities across all six jurisdictions.
“We just go through every Commissioner and we talk a little bit about what’s going on in their jurisdiction,” said Keith Smith, chair of the TJPDC Board. “This is an opportunity for us to kind of connect in a way to find out what might be going on in Louisa County impacts Albemarle County, and vice versa in the regional nature.”
All Virginia localities have to adopt a budget every year and the process is underway. Manning Woodward represents the Louisa District on the Louisa Board of Supervisors and had a brief update.
“It’s going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million,” Woodward said. “And we are planning on being able to do a 15 percent reduction in our personal property tax. I feel like we’ll leave our real estate tax, the rate, the same at 72 cents [per $100 of assessed value].”
Woodward said the hope is to continue to reduce the personal property tax to nothing depending on future revenues.
Supervisor Mike Pruitt of Albemarle’s Scottsville District reported that Albemarle assessments have come in at just over six percent for 2026.
“And yet still we managed to be having concerns as we do our budget projections,” Pruitt said.
Each locality’s budget is influenced by different factors and many of these are driven by formula. For instance, education funding is determined by something called the Composite Index.
“The Composite Index determines a school division’s ability to pay education costs fundamental to the Commonwealth’s Standards of Quality (SOQ) with local funds,” reads an explanation on the website of the Virginia Department of Education.
The most recent calculations were released in November and Nelson County Supervisor Ernie Reed reported that his locality will receive less funding from the state because the number increased by fifteen percent.
“We already were in the top 10 percent of Virginia,” Reed said. “We’re now in about the top 3 percent for the percentage that we have to pay for school funding at a time we don’t have an increasing student population nor an increasing population in the county.”
A major reason for the increase is a sharp rise in real property values due to a reassessment.
Fluvanna County is not doing an assessment this year, and Supervisor Tony O’Brien said the resulting budget season will be mild.
“It’s early of course, so you don’t really know, but we’re hoping that we can keep our tax rate close to where it is right now, maybe a one or two cent increase,” O’Brien said.
One of the biggest topics in Fluvanna County is a request from Tenaska for a special use permit for a second natural-gas fueled power plant.
“It’s a 1.5 gigawatt plant which could generate a substantial amount of revenue for the county,” O’Brien said. “A lot of interest and a lot of concern and you know, also people that are, you know, wanting to know more information about that.”
The Fluvanna Planning Commission has voted on a resolution stating that the project is not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. O’Brien said the Board of Supervisors will take up an appeal as well the special use permit on March 18.
O’Brien said Fluvanna County is in support of pending legislation in the General Assembly that would prohibit water utilities from raising rates every year. Public water in Fluvanna comes from the private company Aqua which was purchased by a larger company late last year. Learn more in the Fluvanna Review.
“They are now asking for a second petition within as many years as two years for a 30% increase,” O’Brien said. “Asked for a 30% increase last year. This would bring water rates close to about $300 a month per family.”
HB422 would only allow water utilities to seek increases every three years. The bill passed the House of Delegates on February 4 and awaits action in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee.
The TJPDC Board next meets on March 4, 2026.
Before you go: Paid subscribers cover the cost of conducting research for this article which was originally published in the February 11, 2026 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. You can either subscribe through Substack or send in a contribution. More information on that last one coming soon! You can also become a sponsor. How? I still need to complete the media-kit but drop me a line!
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