By Heather Michon
Correspondent
The Board of Supervisors met on Wednesday night (April 14) for public hearings on the FY21 budget and the tax rates.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
“This year was a pretty amazing year for reassessments,” said management analyst Liz McIver. Real estate assessments rose 6.87 percent.
The real estate tax rate in the adopted FY21 budget was $0.925 per $100 in assessed value. For FY22, the proposed rate was $0.92 and supervisors have advertised a rate of $0.884. McIver calculated the equalized tax rate at $0.865.
Under state law, the county was required to hold a public hearing because the reassessment resulted in an increase of one percent or greater in the total property tax levied.
No members of the public signed up to speak during the hearing.
The second public hearing focused on the FY22-26 capital improvement plan (CIP) and the FY22 budget and tax rates.
The proposed budget for capital projects over the next five years is $43,258,162, with the bulk of that coming in FY22. Supervisors recently decided to look at a CIP of $25.5 million to tackle large building and repair projects and for new vehicles and equipment for a range of county departments and the school system. They plan to take advantage of current low-interest rates to secure debt funding much of that budget.
If approved, the FY22 CIP budget would increase 22,112.4 percent over FY21. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, supervisors decided to lock the CIP funding at a bare-bones $113,000 for 2021.
Between 2023 and 2026, the county projects they will need much smaller CIP budgets, averaging $4.4 million per year.
Overall, the county expects revenues to rise by 8.8 percent, or about $6.8 million, over FY21 revenues. Expenditures are expected to rise 8.7 percent.
“The board has put forth a pretty robust budget at this point,” said County Administrator Eric Dahl. “It accomplishes a lot of things.” Not only will the budget invest in CIP, he noted that it also addresses salary and compensation for staff, an increase in public safety, and funds some needed new staff positions.
In the public comment phase of the hearing, Dahl read a letter from School Board president Perrie Johnson, who wrote as a private citizen to thank them for their consideration of the school budget and asked “just a little more fervently” to pass the budget as it stands now. “[A]s we finally bring students back full-time next year, we have a lot of work to do, and we need your help.”
The final vote on the budget will likely be held on Wednesday, April 21 at 7 p.m., although if they were to decide they needed more time, it could be pushed to a special session on April 28.
FIREFLY PROJECT
Supervisors unanimously approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the county, Central Virginia Electric Cooperative’s Firefly Broadband, and Dominion Energy to undertake a study of broadband access in underserved areas of the county.
Underserved areas are defined by the government as having access to less than 25 megabits per second. In Fluvanna, that includes areas south of Carybrook to Bremo Bluff and some areas along the Fluvanna/Albemarle line.
There is no cost to the county for agreeing to the study. If they all decided to go forward with the project, CVEC president Gary Wood said grant funding from the government would help defray most of the costs of construction.
DOMINION ENERGY INFORMATIONAL MEETING
In his opening report to the supervisors, Dahl said Dominion Energy has filed a rezoning application for a parcel near the Bremo Power Station. The company has been ordered by the state to remove 6.2 million cubic yards of toxic coal from unlined holding ponds to a lined landfill.
If their rezoning request is granted, it would not have to use public roads to move the ash. The company has proffered around $50 million to the county for future mitigation measures in the Fork Union Sanitary District.
Dominion is holding an informational meeting for members of the public on April 29 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Fork Union Community Center. The company set up a website for the project at www.DominionEnergy.com/BremoCCR for more information.
