January 31, 2025: Charlottesville continues prepping for FY26 budget in an era of uncertainty of federal funding
Plus: Charlottesville City Schools release the plan to adjust attendance zones
And just like that, January prepares to vanish into the night, leaving us with February. Until then, this is one last opportunity to be in the first month of 2025, a year that begins the second quarter of the 21st century. This is Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and occasional podcast that seeks to document as much as possible about planning for the future. I’m Sean Tubbs, and in my fourth quarter and hoping to be in the game as long as possible.
In today’s periodical:
Charlottesville City Schools have unveiled the plans for switching attendance zones for the six elementary schools
An infectious disease expert from the UVA Health System explains what’s happening with bird flu
The Charlottesville City Schools hold a work session on revenue assumptions for the next fiscal year, including an expectation sales tax revenues will decline
First-shout: WTJU Folk Marathon - February 3 through February 9
“All music is folk music; I ain’t never heard no horse sing a song.” So said Louis Armstrong, or possibly Big Bill Broonzy. Either way, WTJU embraces it.
From February 3 – 9, WTJU brings you all kinds of Folk music during the 2025 Folk Marathon. You can depend on their dedicated volunteers to bring you inspired programming, day in, day out. When the world seems to be losing its mind, you can always tune in to WTJU to find yours again.
WTJU is here for you – and your donation makes this station available to everyone!
Charlottesville City Schools release information on new attendance zones
Charlottesville School Superintendent Royal Gurley has released his recommendation for how to rearrange the attendance zones for the city’s elementary schools while maintaining a socioeconomic balance.
“The proposal’s implementation schedule is designed so that fewer current students will need to change schools,” reads a website devoted to the proposal.
No changes would be made until August 2027. That’s when students living west of Kindlewood would be moved from Summit (formerly Clark Elementary School) to Sunrise (soon-to-be-formerly Burnley-Moran Elementary School).
Other changes would be made in August 2029:
Students living at Kindlewood would move from Summit to Burnley-Moran
Students living north of 250 currently zoned to Burnley-Moran (Locust Grove and Park Street areas) would move to Greenbrier
Students living south of 250 currently zoned to Greenbrier (Rose Hill and Birdwood areas) would move to Trailblazer.
Students living in the Meadows neighborhood (homes west of 29 currently zoned for Greenbrier) would move to Trailblazer.
“This rezoning process has shown me just how beloved all six of our elementary schools are: no family wants to go to a new school,” said Superintendent Dr. Royal A. Gurley, Jr. “But changes are needed. These are tough decisions to make, but we’ve had strong community engagement and excellent guidance along the way.”
The school system will hold a question and answer period on February 4 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Summit Elementary. There’s a feedback meeting on February 11 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Charlottesville High School.
The School Board is scheduled to take a vote on March 27.
UVA Health expert more concerned about new business on crowded street than bird flu
An outbreak of avian flu continues to spread across the country, affecting the price of eggs and poultry. Earlier this month, the Richmond Zoo announced that a crane at the facility was confirmed to have died from H5 bird flu.
“This is the first positive test of bird flu in the zoo’s 30-year history,” reads a statement from January 20, 2025. “The affected birds did not live in any of our aviaries where the public share a common space with birds.”
Dr. Patrick Jackson, an infectious disease expert at the University of Virginia Health System, said the H5N1 is widely distributed across the nation.
“The involvement with birds at the Richmond Zoo is obviously unfortunate, but I think it's a predictable consequence of when animals have contact with wild bird populations,” said Dr. Jackson.
There are several strains of avian influenza out there and Dr. Jackson said it is not unusual for new variants to develop. The hope is to stop more cases from developing in humans as well as cows and other livestock.
The Richmond Zoo has been working with the Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to continue to monitor the situation.
On January 21, the acting secretary of the United States Health and Human Services Department sent out a memo ordering a halt to all communications until they can be reviewed by the incoming administration. All documents must be reviewed by a presidential appointee and that includes studies that were to have been published this week in the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The website shows the last report being published on January 16.
“This really is one of the major routes of communication from CDC about things like foodborne outbreaks of chikungunya or dengue in the United States and would also be a route of communication about the current status of avian influenza,” Dr. Jackson said. “CDC also does publish some more formal academic journals in a traditional way. And a lot of that has been on pause.”
Dr. Jackson said the lack of communications is causing uncertainty at a time when federal, state, and local health officials need to work together to understand how the outbreak is happening.
“What we really need to have happening right now is CDC working closely with state and local health departments and agricultural departments to do good monitoring about what's going on in wild bird populations, in cattle, collecting information about human cases as well, and then disseminating that information to the broader community,” Dr. Jackson said.
The Virginia Department of Health webpage on bird flu currently states that there are no known human cases in the Commonwealth. On January 16, health officials confirmed an outbreak at a poultry farm in Accomack County.
Dr. Jackson said the people greatest at risk are those who work in agriculture and that those with backyard chickens should be vigilant.
“Use appropriate protective equipment and handling those,” Dr. Jackson said. “And hunters also should take appropriate precautions when handling or dressing birds that they've caught.”
Dr. Jackson said the most immediate threat is to the food supply. The price of eggs has been skyrocketing because any commercial flock with a known infection must be culled. That takes eggs out of commercial sales because flocks have to be repopulated.
He added there are cases of bird flu in cattle and that some cats have been exposed due to drinking of raw milk from infected cows. But so far Dr. Jackson doesn’t see a threat to human health.
“So far we have not seen sustained human to human transmission of H5N1 influenza,” said Dr. Jackson. “And that really would be the bright red flag that would make you concerned about the beginning of a pandemic. I spend more time worrying about the 5th Street Wawa opening as an immediate threat to my safety and well being than I do about Avian influenza.”
However, he said that could change quickly which is why more data needs to be collected and shared.
Second-shout: Piedmont Master Gardeners seek items for Green Elephant Sale
If you are cleaning out your garage or basement this winter and have garden implements or yard ornaments you no longer need, the Piedmont Master Gardeners will take them off your hands
The Piedmont Master Gardeners are seeking donations of new and used garden tools, hoses, decorative items, outdoor furniture, and virtually anything else that can be used to maintain or enjoy a home landscape. From February 1 through April 30, these "Green Elephant" donations may be dropped off at 402 Albemarle Square between 10 a.m. and noon on Wednesdays or Saturdays. The Master Gardeners are not able to accept plastic pots or opened chemicals.
The Green Elephants will be offered for sale to the public during PMG’s Spring Plant Sale, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 3, at Albemarle Square Shopping Center. Proceeds will support the many free and low-cost horticulture education programs the Piedmont Master Gardeners offer to the community.
To arrange a pickup of large items or for more information, contact the Piedmont Master Gardeners at greenelephant@piedmontmastergardeners.org.
Charlottesville expecting dip in sales tax revenue in FY26, preparing for federal cuts
There are more meetings than usual in Charlottesville for the development of the budget for the next fiscal year. The City Council spent just under two hours at a work session on January 30 getting the latest glimpse of revenues. They first heard from City Manager Sam Sanders who has wanted to keep elected officials and the public informed.
“I started the budget series this year with three budget briefs to give you indications of what it begins to what it had begun to look like for putting together this budget,” Sanders said. “The goal was not to scare you, but was to basically invite you into what can be fun for us and trying to figure out how to make things work.”
To recap:
At the first budget briefing on November 18, Sanders told Council he would try to bring forward a balanced budget based on no rate increase. (read the story)
At the second budget briefing on December 2, Sanders updated Council on the city’s commitment to affordable housing and infrastructure. (read the story)
At the third budget briefing on December 16, Sanders reviewed expected increases in public transit and public safety. (read the story)
At the January 30, 2025 work session, Sanders repeated that he would try to bring Council a balanced budget not based on a tax rate increase but he could not guarantee he could do that.
Budget Director Krisy Hammill said this meeting was intended to get any last minute feedback from Council before the recommended budget comes out on March 3, 2025. She was able to provide some sense of where revenue projections are for the end of the current fiscal year and the next.
“Real estate and personal property tax notices are going out or have started to go out,” Hammill said. “We are looking at an increase in ‘26 of just about $7.9 million of revenue.”
That number is based on $0.98 per $100 of assessed value, but would automatically be higher if Council raises the rate. When Council adjusts the real estate tax rate in either direction, the change applies to the calendar year. When Council agreed in April 2024 to a two cent increase that added extra revenue for FY24 which ended with a $22.4 million surplus as I reported this week.
Hammill said collections of sales tax revenue are lower than expected in the current fiscal year. The anticipated amount for this year is $15.81 million but collections are trending lower. For now, she’s assuming that trend will continue and is assuming only $14.5 million will be collected in FY26. There are also lower assumptions for the lodging tax and the meals tax.
“The revenue team continues to look at those every month,” Hammill said. “ But they are definitely sort of not as strong as what they have been.”
Commissioner of Revenue Todd Divers said sales tax might be down because the retail tax base is not as large as the one in Albemarle.
“We're trying to do some analysis to see if it'll bear that out,” Divers said. “Transient occupancy tax and meals tax. You know, I guess folks are just not coming like they were. Not eating out like they were.”
Hammill said the city also expects an additional $2.4 million increase in payment from Albemarle County from the revenue-sharing agreement. She said overall, the city is projecting about $10.4 million in new revenue for FY26 and 40 percent of that goes to the school system based on a formula.
Taking a look at spending, the collective bargaining agreements add about $4.5 million in expenditures required by the four contracts currently in place for the municipal unions. That includes a $1.9 million increase for the agreement represented by the Teamsters.
There are two more collective bargaining units waiting to be finalized.
Other impacts on the budget include $1.3 million to cover what the city has agreed to pay Habitat for Humanity and Piedmont Housing Alliance in FY2026 for the purchase of the Carlton Mobile Home Park. There’s a $1 million increase related to renovations at the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail.
“Essentially we are working to balance the city manager's proposed budget by February 14,” Hammill said. “So we are going to be talking a lot in the next few days and a few weeks to finalise what we think is a number that we will bring to you all as part of the budget.”
Under Virginia law, localities must advertise any proposed tax increases in the newspaper of record. That’s the Charlottesville Daily Progress. The ad must run seven days before the public hearing which is scheduled for March 17.
“If you are going to increase taxes for a specific purpose, we would need to know,” Hammill said. “So that we can advertise that. We would need to know that so we can include it in the budget pretty quickly.”
There will be further discussion about expenditures. Sanders said that transit may be a difficult conversation. Charlottesville Area Transit is still trying to hire enough drivers to restore the system to pre-pandemic levels. The presidential transition raises questions about whether the federal government will foot the bill as had been anticipated.
“We should all be in a perpetual state of prayer hoping that we don't have the spigot turned off because we need it,” Sanders said, adding that his budget team have discussed the presence of $25 million to $30 million that flow from the federal government for all manner of programs.
“With the news of freezing it poses concerns inside the building for us and the mechanics of doing the work,” Sanders said. “And it absolutely sends chaos and terror throughout the neighborhoods unfortunately.”
Sanders said it is too soon to know for sure what will happen and he said localities across the country are being tested. He said he has not brought forward any proposals for how to spend the surplus until the city identities what specific cuts will be made. He said there will likely not be an attempt to clawback funds that were spent through the American Rescue Plan Act.
Not mentioned was a new memo from new U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy that will seek to tie federal funding to communities with higher birth rates and higher marriage rates, as well as linking funding to compliance with immigration enforcement policies. (read the memo)
Reading material for #804
Virginia Medicaid recipients on edge as GOP weighs cuts, Charlotte Rene Woods, January 30, 2025
UVa shooter's sentencing delayed, Hawes Spencer, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), January 30, 2025
Trump’s executive order targets ACPS’ anti-racism policy, Pimm Dyar, CBS19 News, January 30, 2025
#804 is my old area code
This is the week I finally changed my voicemail greeting to explicitly tell people who call that I likely won’t take the call. I’m the only person who works at Town Crier Productions. There are two cats who don’t seem to know how to turn a story in, but they’re great office mates. If I could only train them to take messages…
This is the final day of January. The spreadsheet I use to keep track of stories I’ve written has over 80 entries. This is the 18th regular installment of the regular newsletter. There were also several “Look Back” editions and four Week Ahead. I also write multiple stories for C-Ville Weekly. And don’t forget the podcast and radio versions!
I don’t write that to brag but because I don’t really know how I do this. I wake up every single day and know I need to get to work. Other media outlets with large budgets do not bother to write about the budget anymore. I’m the only one providing consistent coverage, all written in a way to hopefully appeal to ration and reason and to hopefully avoid sensationalism.
What you read each day is unique, and I’m grateful that I have the support of so many people. I’m still trying to figure out the business end which is daunting to me. But I believe in what I’m doing, or I have faith that if I keep doing this, the world might be a little more stable.
I just keep thinking back to a time when someone said that no one wanted the work I was producing. What did that person stand to gain by presiding over the dismantling of what I had built? Was it just ego? Power? A dislike of what I was writing, and what I was beginning to uncover in those property transactions?
It doesn’t really matter. I’ll finish this one up and then I’ll get to work on the next set of stories. Thank you for reading and indulging with these end notes. Maybe one day I’ll figure out to have real conversations in the real world with some of you. I want so much to figure out a way to get people discussing issues in a way that allows them to see each others arguments. If this is a pipe dream, then I’ll learn to plumb.