By Heather Michon
Correspondent
The Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the budget for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) at a special meeting on Wednesday night (April 23).
Director of Finance Tori Melton said the total budget came to $117,769,609.
Of that, $103,252,148 will go to general operating expenses, $10,261,439 will be allocated to capital improvement projects (CIP), and $4,256,022 will go to enterprise funds.
Overall, the FY26 budget is $6.8 million more than the amended FY25 budget, an increase of 6.1 percent.
One of the most significant increases came from the schools, which requested over $1.5 million in additional local funding. Another $1 million was needed for rising health care costs and cost-of-living increases for county staff. Debt service on Fluvanna’s portion of the James River Water Project is expected to cost $1.4 million. CIP projects required $4.6 million in funding.
The county will add four new full-time deputy positions for the sheriff’s office for $563,000. They will also hire a chief of fire services and EMS by January 2026 at a cost of over $200,000. The Department of Social Services will add three new full-time staff members at a cost of $248,000.
To fund these increases, supervisors agreed to raise the real estate tax rate to $0.750 per $100 of assessed value.
This is an increase of $0.061 over the recently-adopted equalized tax rate of $0.689. Each penny added to the real estate tax generates just under $400,000 in revenue for the county.
Melton said the average homeowner will be looking at an 8.85 percent increase in their real estate tax bill.
The county will also have a new revenue stream beginning in August 2025 as meals tax takes effect. This four percent tax on ready-to-eat meals is projected to add between $300,000 to $600,000 in the first year.
All other county taxes were unchanged. Personal property taxes will stay at $4.10 per $100 of assessed value, the business and public utilities tax at $2.90, and the machinery and tools tax at $1.90.
The vote to approve the budget came a week later than initially expected. Weather delays and other issues plagued the early part of the budget season, pushing the schedule out of whack. Still, they finished up well ahead of the state-mandated deadline of April 30.
No citizens spoke during the public hearing phase and supervisors did not have any discussions before making the motion to approve the budget resolution.
Before they adjourned, Tony O’Brien (Rivanna) thanked everyone for their participation in the process. “It’s always a lot of work and energy and effort,” he said. “It’s always wonderful when we have a consensus.”
