April 10, 2025: A very brief summary of four budget work sessions for Charlottesville's FY26 budget before a final one tonight
Plus: The University of Virginia Foundation selects a new CEO from within
One hundred years today marks the publication of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a work of American fiction that I’ve read and forgotten at least twice. If I wanted to, I could click a few links and I could go through the story once again as an older man and see what jumps out at me. I would like to, but I’m Sean Tubbs and “in my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.”
However, this is Charlottesville Community Engagement and not a personal journal so we’d better get on with the stories about budget, buildings and not Battlestar Galactica. This narrative may continue at the end, but you’ll have to get through the rest first.
In today’s installment:
The University of Virginia Foundation has appointed a new CEO from within its ranks
UVA Health announces the first director of the Manning Institute of Biotechnology
A very hastily-produced summary of four budget work sessions in Charlottesville in advance of today’s final budget work session
First shout-out: Plant Virginia Natives
Spring is here and there’s still time to plan for upgrades to your outdoors. You can take some time to get ready for spring! Check out Plant Virginia Natives!
Plant Virginia Natives is part of a partnership with ten regional campaigns for ten different ecosystems across Virginia, from the Northern Piedmont to the Eastern Shore. Take a look at the full map below for the campaign for native species where you are in the Commonwealth. For the Charlottesville area, download a free copy of the handbook: Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens.
Plant Northern Piedmont Natives is for anyone who works with native plants, whether you are a property owner, private consultant, landscape designer, nursery operator, conservation group, or local government.
UVA Foundation promotes chief administrative officer to CEO
The University of Virginia Foundation did not look very far when selecting someone to replace outgoing Chief Executive Officer Tim Rose.
In February, the foundation’s board approved the hiring of Chief Administrative Officer Deborah van Eersel to the position. She has been with the organization since 2001 and in her current position since 2013.
"My focus will be on maintaining our people-first culture while advancing UVA's mission through strategic real estate initiatives,” van Eersel said in a statement sent out this morning. “We have a unique opportunity to contribute to both the University's mission and our region's economic vitality."
The University of Virginia Foundation was created soon after a 1986 agreement between Albemarle, Charlottesville, and UVA that established a framework for land use decisions in the area. The foundation was created to be the entity to purchase land for eventual use by UVA.
Rose has held the position since 1993 and announced his retirement earlier this year.
As the top administrative officer, van Eersel has presided over a time of expansion including growth at the foundation’s North Fork Discovery Park. Before working for the UVA Foundation, she worked as the CEO of the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors where she helped the Free Enterprise Forum.
UVA Health names director of Manning Institute of Biotechnology
Construction of several projects is currently underway at the University of Virginia’s Fontaine Research Park including the 350,000 square foot Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology.
This morning, UVA Health announced that the first director will be Mark T. Esser, a specialist in the development of new medical treatments. He is currently vice president for vaccines and immune therapies at the firm AstraZeneca.
“The Manning Institute represents an unprecedented opportunity both for me, personally, and for the entire field of healthcare,” Esser is quoted in an information release sent out at 9:31 a.m.
The total investment in the new institute is $350 million with $100 million of that coming from Paul and Diane Manning. The Commonwealth of Virginia has contributed $100 million and UVA has put in $150 million. Paul Manning was appointed to the Board of Visitors in 2023 by Governor Glenn Youngkin.
Esser earned his PhD in microbiology from the University of Virginia in 1998. At AstraZeneca he has also worked as senior director of clinical immunology, microbiology, and diagnostics for infection and cancer vaccines.
“Mark Esser is the complete package,” the release quotes Manning. “A smart, savvy and experienced leader with broad knowledge and a proven track record of success.”
Ground was broken on the institute in December 2023 and the building is expected to be occupied by the end of 2026.
Second shout-out: WTJU Rock Marathon Is Underway!
There are very few freeform radio stations left in the United States of America and WTJU 91.1 FM is one of them! WTJU is always worth celebrating, but the Rock Marathon that began today and runs through April 13 is something special. I have four radios currently blasting out a program!
On-air since 1957, Virginia’s third-oldest non-commercial station began by presenting mostly classical music. Folk and Jazz sounds were eventually added to the schedule. But in 1970, WTJU began airing rock ‘n’ roll, emphasizing underground bands and sounds not found on commercial stations.
This year’s Rock Marathon will feature a full slate of specialty programs exploring everything from early electronic music to gritty R&B to power pop and hip-hop to global psychedelic music from countries living under fascism. Download the schedule for the full slate of Rock Marathon shows and live performances.
One thing is clear. I need more radios to get through this week!
Charlottesville City Council holding final budget wrap-up session tonight
Tonight the Charlottesville City Council will have a final work session on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2026. This newsletter has unfortunately been unable to document the four that have already taken place and what follows is a hastily-produced attempt to provide a rough sketch. It was originally posted in today’s Fifth District Community Engagement.
Sam Sanders has been city manager since August 1, 2023 having been hired as a deputy city manager by the interim manager provided by the Robert Bobb Group. Sanders has attempted to manage in a transparent manner. That has included efforts to engage with his City Council as often as possible.
The development of the budget that will begin on July 1, 2025 officially kicked off at a work session on September 16, 2024.
“The FY26 budget will build off a FY25 total budget of $251,948,630 that is a 10.29 percent increase over the FY24 budget,” I wrote in my story from the work session.
That amount is more than double what the budget was back in 2008. The cost to buy housing continues to go up and that’s reflected in higher assessments. The published land book for 2024 shows that the city would collect $104,649,939.84 in total taxes based on a real property rate of $0.96 per $100.
However, Sanders proposed a two cent increase and Council agreed, so the actual collectable amount would increase to $106,830,146.92. The land book for 2025 has not been posted but assessments are up an average of 7.74 percent.
Sanders held several work sessions with Council between September and early March when he released a budget for FY2026 that is not based on a tax increase.
The recommended budget as introduced totals $264,474,183 and is a 4.97 percent increase over the current year.
“That’s $12.5 million in additional money,” Sanders said.
So far I have made an editorial choice to focus on Albemarle County. You can read those stories here. For the rest of this newsletter, resources to get me and you up to speed on tonight’s wrap-up work session.
Council has held budget work sessions on March 6, March 13, March 20, and March 27. I won’t be able to fully summarize them all here, but we’ll go one by one.
March 6, 2025: Work Session #1
The March 6, 2025 work session lasted an hour and a half.
Some other things that jump out at me that aren’t in the minutes:
Charlottesville Area Transit is adding eight drivers and a mechanic.
The city is using $900,000 in general fund revenue to pay the Charlottesville Parking Center for the lease for the Water Street Parking Garage. Learn more about that here.
City Councilor Michael Payne said a top priority for him is building a permanent homeless shelter
March 13, 2025: Work Session #2
The March 13, 2025 work session lasted just over two hours.
Some things that jumped out at me:
Several items that had been funded out of the Vibrant Community Fund have been changed to be funded through the City Manager’s Discretionary Fund. These include $5,000 for the “WTJU Radio - Black Business Expo”, $5,000 for the UVA Film Festival, $5,000 for the Virginia Festival of the Book, and $2,500 for the Charlottesville Opera.
Several organizations funded in the past through the competitive Housing Operation and Programs Support were lower than in previous years and at lower amounts than requested.
Sanders explained that a $298,000 request from the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority for Community Development Block Grant funds to replace roofs at the Dogwood portfolio was ineligible. He said the city co-owns those houses and that request should have been made through a different channel and made as part of a report to Council. Council agreed to pay for half of the $10 million purchase price in the spring of 2023.
Through March 13, the city had disbursed $501,977 through the emergency Pathways Fund to 692 individuals. The average disbursement is $725.40 and 70 percent of requests are housing related.
Sanders took some time to describe the $967,000 in requests that have come from non-profits outside of the budget cycle. These range from $175,000 from the Uhuru Foundation to expand their re-entry services to a request for funds $500,000 from the Dogwood Veterans Memorial for a pedestrian bridge. Sanders said he is hoping to have final decisions at today’s budget wrap-up session.
Technical errors led the Blue Ridge Coalition for the Homeless to lose a $250,000 federal grant. Executive Director Shayla Washington explained this was due to accounts not being transferred to her account with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Various other groups appealed for additional funding from Council.
March 20, 2025: Community Budget Work Session
This event lasted just over two hours.
The minutes are not yet posted here but they are posted here.
After a series of speakers, Sanders queued up a discussion of discretionary spending opportunities for Council.
“We are managing competitive processes, using community based review teams and committees to make recommendations to you,” Sanders said. “But we also recognize that you would like to participate in that.”
Some highlights:
Deputy City Manager Ashley Marshall explained more about the $250,000 to replace lost funding from HUD for the Blue Ridge Coalition for the Homeless would ensure continuity of service for a six month period.
There was discussion about the Dogwood Memorial Vietnam Memorial and their request for $1 million to pay for the pedestrian bridge. Council supported allocating City Councilor Brian Pinkston’s idea to put $100,000 toward the project.
There was much discussion about funding for individual groups and Council agreed to not fund a $4,200 request for Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia. City Councilor Michael Payne said it was inappropriate for UVA to submit such requests for funding. City Councilor Brian Pinkston said removing the request was petty, but there were three votes to proceed just like last year.
Even though this was not the capital improvement work session, there was a discussion about debt service. The city will have $191,243,827 in outstanding debt as of June 30, 2025. The debt service payment for the current fiscal year is $17.9 million. That’s 7.1 percent of the total budget. The city plans on issuing $138 million in debt over the next five years.
Sanders warned that federal funds to support Charlottesville Area Transit are dwindling and it may time to consider adding fares back to the equation to recover some costs.
March 27, 2025: Work session on the Capital Improvement Program
This session lasted about two and a half hours
Some highlights:
The recommended budget anticipated a capital budget for FY2026 of $31,987,686. That comes from a transfer of $8.3 million from the general fund transfer, the issuance of $23.46 million in bonds, $200,000 from the schools, and $40,000 in miscellaneous revenue.
One project discussed at this meeting is $250,000 for access management for Riverview Park. There was $250,000 set aside in the FY26 budget for this purpose. Parks Director Riaan Anthony said the funding would be used for a study for ways to improve access to the park. For instance, some vehicles may be coming into the park with kayaks and other portable boats and one improvement might be to add space for this. He said the idea is not to increase parking spots. City Councilor Natalie Oschrin argued against any expansion of asphalt and she suggested people could park on neighborhood streets rather than the park. Anthony said the scope would likely cover the city’s new parkland to the northwest at 0 East High Street. City Councilor Michael Payne was also skeptical of this expenditure. There were three votes to proceed.
City Councilor Brian Pinkston continued to make a plea for funding for the Dogwood Vietnam Memorial. Councilor Natalie Oschrin expressed her concern about the project and said access might be improved without spending millions. Councilor Lloyd Snook said he could support $100,000 to help support a public-private partnership to build the infrastructure. Oschrin said there are other priorities that are more important to bring sidewalks compliant with the Americans with Disability Act.
Charlottesville City Schools requested moving up the design and construction of an early childhood education center at the Walker School by one year. Council agreed. This will mean selling bonds a year in advance.
Council moved off of the capital budget and into operations by moving into a discussion of increased funding for Charlottesville Area Transit. Deputy City Manager James Freas said the city will continue to offer service fare free, and the costs have increased as part of the collective bargaining agreement now in place. This is a robust conversation that deserves its own post, but I have to move on.
I did not finish a review of the March 27 work session, so this is an incomplete account. In a perfect world I would be able to cover these more quickly. We live in a world where legacy media outlets have decided it is not worth investing in keeping a close eye on everything. Not enough clicks, perhaps.
I believe it is crucial to the future of this country for more people to understand the complexities involved. My role is to keep doing this, knowing full well there are so many people who would like it if there was no robust coverage of the decision-making process.
Reading material:
Scottsville seeking person to fill spot on planning commission, CBS19 News, April 9, 2025
From disc golf to clean laundry, FLDP projects strengthen Fluvanna, Heather Michon, April 10, 2025
The sand is nearing the bottom for #846
Is this really an installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement? I suppose it is because that’s what the platform I am posting to. I lament I have not been able to keep up with Charlottesville’s budget this year, because I think it is crucial to have a reporter who knows this stuff to provide an account that is not from the government.
I do not work for the government. I am likely going to soon announce a policy where I will not take funding from any government entity. I experimented with a shout-out with a joint venture of economic development officers in Albemarle and Charlottesville, and I realize that there’s way too much of a conflict of interest to continue that. Also, they opted to go in a different direction.
I’ve written many times before about how so many of my colleagues in journalism look down on meetings and do not think covering them is worth time. I have a different philosophy and there is room for many different types of approaches.My goal here is constant experimentation, and today’s hastily produced summary of four budget work sessions is just that.
Anyway, I still don’t remember much about the Great Gatsby except there’s a green light that the title character is obsessed with. And every time I think about the Great Gatsby, I think about one of my favorite Sonic Youth songs.
I would like to read more often, but my obsession is writing these newsletters. I’m hopeful that people will continue to read them. There are now over 4,000 subscribers and about a fifth are paying. I am hopeful I can grow enough revenue to hire people who are interested in the details. The details matter. Otherwise we’ll just keep on shouting at each other. That doesn’t interest me at all.
This story went out originally without a full reference to Tim Rose, the outgoing CEO of the UVA Foundation. I regret the error.