On today’s show:
Albemarle local government and school employees may get a $1,000 bonus
The MPO Policy Board is briefed on several transportation projects
Charlottesville’s public housing board held an emergency meeting today
And Albemarle County begins taking public comment on a new housing policy
Today's Patreon-fueled shout-out is for the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign, an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water. Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you!
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and the Albemarle School Board met last Thursday to begin the public side of the budget cycle. In Virginia, school boards do not have the power to raise their own money, so legislative bodies have to factor in school needs when setting a tax rate.
“We’re here to kind of kick off and get started with the things that roll right into our budget season which is right upon us,” said Albemarle Supervisor Ned Gallaway.
“We are pleased to be with the supervisors as we start out with this budget season,” said Graham Paige, the chair of the Albemarle School Board.
Recently, Albemarle unpaused several capital projects that were delayed due to the uncertainty involving the pandemic’s effect on the local economy. These include an addition at Crozet Elementary School. But, the main topic for Thursday’s meeting is a major factor that Albemarle’s budget staff need to consider as they tally up projected expenditures. Matt Haas is the Superintendent of Albemarle Public Schools.
“I’m really grateful for this opportunity to be here with the Albemarle County School Board, the Board of Supervisors and our staff to have a conversation with what I think we all might consider is a high priority, compensation for our employees,” Haas said.
Haas said this previous year has been very difficult for schools around the world as normal was turned upside down. There’s a lot of work that goes into providing the services associated with public schools.
“Since then our employees, our teachers, our nurses, teaching assistants, building services staff, principals, bus drivers, aides, our child nutrition staff, and our leadership team have come together [and] treated every day as an opportunity to learn and improve, both virus mitigation and safety, providing for student and family needs in terms of meals and essentials and amazingly, high-quality teaching and learning, whether it is provided online or out at the school,” Haas said.
This year, school employees did not get a raise due to the county’s decision to play it safe fiscally. A projected increase to a minimum wage of $15 an hour was also shelved. Still, Haas sounded optimistic.
“As you know, it’s a new year, “ Haas said. “Although some of the events we have witnessed since January 1 might make it seem like we’re still experiencing 2020, we’re now actually in 2021 and due to the smart moves of our local government and school finance staff, we are in better position than I thought we might have been right now.”
But, are conditions favorable enough to increase compensation? On January 20, the Board of Supervisors were told that overall tax assessments in Albemarle were up 1.4 percent, which could bring in additional revenue depending on the property tax rate. Andy Bowman in the county’s budget office sounded a realistic tone.
“T his will be the slowest growth in our reassessments since the Great Recession and that will be especially impactful in the revenue picture next year,” Bowman said. “As the Boards may know, a little more than half of the county’s operating revenue comes from real estate taxes.”
Bowman said the budget office sees the economy as uncertain and unstable at this time.
“We are seeing that the county revenues are stabilizing but we have not stabilized,” Bowman said. “And as the pandemic continues, we are not through that, either.”
However, Bowman said budget staff have identified a source of revenue to provide for a one-time funding for several ways to shore up the county, including employee compensation using the term “stablizing the county’s workforce”.
The budgets are still being prepared and will be presented in mid to late February.
A third of the school’s budget comes from the state, and the rest comes from local taxes. That means the school’s budget depends on what is proposed in Virginia’s budget. Maya Kumazawa is the budget and planning director for Albemarle Schools. She said the system will receive more money than expected in the current fiscal year.
“There are a few things listed in FY21 that add up to approximately $5 million that we are anticipated to receive in the current year above what we have adopted, so this would fall under one-time funding as Mr. Bowman described,” Kumazawa said. “In addition for next year, the Governor’s proposed budget includes a two-percent one-time bonus for SOQ funded positions which is likely to turn into a raise pending more information about revenue forecasts.”
The elected officials were told that other major employers have already made the jump to $15 an hour. Dana Robb is with Albemarle’s human resources department.
“We are still seeing trends of some local employers moving towards [$15 an hour] or have, such as the city of Charlottesville, University of Virginia, and Sentara Martha Jefferson,” Robb said.
The Commonwealth of Virginia is also increasing its minimum wage to $15 gradually through 2026.
So, what’s the one-time proposal? Lorna Gerome is Albemarle’s human resources director and she said the county was proposing…
“To provide a lump-sum payment of $1,000 for all regular full-time employees and some portion of that for part-time,” Gerome said. “This would come out of existing year-end fund balance and we would be able to do it this spring.”
For local government, that would use a maximum of $850,000 of the county’s surplus. For the school government, that would be a maximum of a $2.7 million drawdown of their fund balance of $8.6 million.
The idea of the one-time payment had general support from both elected bodies. Here’s Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley of the Rivanna District.
“I think this $1,000 lump sum payment is a way of saying ‘we see you, we recognize you, this is what we can do for now and we appreciate all you have done for us in making sure that local government runs for all of the people of Albemarle,” LaPisto-Kirtley said.
Others, however, were concerned that the county has not been able to increase salaries. Dave Oberg represents the White Hall District.
“From my perspective, I appreciate the thought of hey, look, we’re going to give a bonus,” Oberg said. “I get that. But the problem is that I think there’s a danger that assuages our guilt. We didn’t give you the raise that we thought we would give you, but we’re giving you a bonus. And I just think that’s a problem.”
Last week, the regional body that takes votes on transportation projects met for the first time in 2021.
One item on the agenda was a public hearing on a cost increase for the Belmont Bridge replacement. That project has been in the planning stages for over ten years and set to get under construction this year. The cost estimate for the project is $31.1 million, or about six million higher than the most recent estimate included within the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s transportation improvement program.
Charlottesville’s capital budget for the current fiscal year includes $5 million toward the project, and the draft capital improvement program includes $2.5 million. No one spoke at the public hearing.
State and federal funding for the Belmont Bridge predate the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale process. Results of the fourth round were recently released. VDOT engineer Chuck Proctor told the MPO Policy Board that the area was successful in getting many projects recommended.
“In the MPO area there were 15 total projects, 13 of them were funded,” Proctor said. “The only ones that weren’t funded were the Hillsdale Drive South extension and the Fray’s Mill intersection on 29.”
That last project is in the scope of an MPO study that will soon get underway to look at U.S. 29 between Airport Road in Albemarle County and the intersection with U.S. 33 in Greene County.
“The purpose of this corridor study is to develop broad transportation recommendations that complement the existing land use designations in the study area,” said transportation planner Jessica Hersh-Ballering. “This will not just be personal motor vehicles. This will be transit, bicycle, and pedestrian transportation.
On January 20, the Greene Planning Commission recommended approval of a zoning amendment that will allow construction to begin on 1,180 new homes off Preddy Creek Road. (Read Terry Beigie’s story in the Greene County Record to learn more)
There’s also the possibility that Greene County could be added to the jurisdictional boundaries of the MPO. Sandy Shackelford is the director of planning and transportation at the MPO.
“We’re also going to be recommending that we use a consultant to do an MPO strategic plan, specifically as we start looking at the possibility of changing the MPO boundaries,” Shackleford said. “We think this is a really good opportunity to review and define who it is that we’re serving. Who is our client? Is that the elected officials? Is it members of the public at large? Is that our local government bodies and staff? We really want to spend some time thinking about who it is that we are doing this work for.”
MPO members were interested in a recommendation from staff to find ways to raise additional revenue for transportation projects through public-private partnerships. City Councilor and MPO Chair Michael Payne said he would welcome work from staff on how transportation programs can be altered to help address climate change.
“Connecting our climate action plan project to our capital projects and transportation projects, [and] think about how they interact with induced demand and emissions from transportation,” Payne said.
Toward the end of the meeting, the MPO was briefed on a pair of grants intended to expand transit in the region. One is a $350,000 grant to create a regional vision for transit, and the other is a $106,215 feasibility study for expanded transit in Albemarle.
“The $350,000 for the vision plan is intended to go beyond any work that the Regional Transit Partnership has already done,” said Hersh-Ballering. “Like what Richmond did, we’re trying to come up with a really clear plan for what kind of investment all of our transit agencies are going to make in the future. It will not get down to the details of route planning or determine how many vehicles to buy.”
Finally, this was the last MPO meeting run by Chip Boyles, who will become City Manager on February 15. Christina Jacobs will serve as interim director of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission while a search is conducted by Boyles’ replacement.
Albemarle County has released a draft housing policy that seeks to increase the number of units by thousands.
“By fostering a variety of housing types that are affordable to individuals and families with diverse incomes, Albemarle County seeks to ensure a thriving, sustainable community for all, today and well into the future,” reads a description of the plan on the online questionnaire for Housing Albemarle.
The plan is based on forecasts that show Albemarle growing to a population of over 138,000 people by 2040. The Housing Albemarle draft suggests 11,750 more units are needed by then, and the document is intended to suggest ways to get there. That could include increased density in development areas, creation of permanently affordable housing on county-owned land, and designation of Housing Rehabilitation Zones. (Weldon Cooper projections)
The questionnaire will be open through February 15. The Board of Supervisors will have a public hearing on Housing Albemarle on March 17.
Finally today, the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority held an emergency meeting to discuss the employment contract of executive director John Sales. Sales joined the agency last August after a brief stint as the city’s coordinator. At the end of a closed session, CRHA Commissioner Lisa Green read a motion.
“I move that the Board direct the Chair with the assistance of counsel to communicate directly with the executive director regarding proposed changes to his employment agreement,” Green said. Personnel matters are one reason government bodies can close meetings to the public. There was no other information about what the contract change might include, but Brandon Collins of the Public Housing Association of Residents had this to say.
“PHAR on the whole thinks that Mr. Sales is doing a fabulous job,” Collins said. “We’re really glad he’s here and we hope that’s reflected in whatever it is you all are talking about today.”
February 1, 2021: $1,000 bonus proposed for Albemarle government and school employees; MPO briefed on transportation projects