March 12, 2025: Charlottesville publishes “lowered tax rate” of $0.9128 in newspaper of public record
Plus: A committee of the UVA Board of Visitors agrees to transfer ownership of new hotel to UVA Foundation
We are now up to March 12, 2025, and on this day in 1938, the German Reich annexed the Federal State of Austria. This was known as Anschluss or Anschluß, and was part of the lead-up to a second bloody war in Europe and followed an attempted coup in 1934 when the Austrian chancellor was assassinated by Austrian Nazis. There was supposed to have been a referendum on annexation on March 13, 1938 but German troops crossed the border 87 years ago today and were unopposed by the Austrian military. This is Charlottesville Community Engagement. I’m Sean Tubbs, and this is a really good time to start paying attention.
In today’s installment:
More from the University of Virginia Board of Visitors meeting from earlier in the month with comments from one professor who has been there since 1967
Charlottesville published the mandated “lowered tax rate” in the local newspaper of record and other recent examples of public notice
Could a long vacant spot in the Flats at West Village become a local bank?
The Finance Committee of the UVA Board of Visitors takes action on the transfer of the Virginia Guesthouse to the UVA Foundation as well as an addition to the major capital plan
First shout-out: Rivanna River Restoration Project underway at Riverview Park
In today’s first Patreon-fueled public service announcement: The Rivanna Conservation Alliance is leading a public-private partnership to help restore the health of the Rivanna River at Charlottesville’s Riverview Park.
This comprehensive initiative aims to restore critical sections of riverbank, enhance water quality and native habitat, repair a severely eroding stormwater outfall, and provide more opportunities for the community to safely access the river in one of the Charlottesville area’s most cherished natural recreational areas. The work is being done in conjunction with the City of Charlottesville and local design firms Ecosystem Services and Wolf Josey Landscape Architects.
To follow the progress of the project, visit the RCA’s website at rivannariver.org.
UVA faculty member since 1967 expresses concern about diversity, equity, and inclusion programs
Long-time readers of this newsletter know I detest the use of acronyms on first reference and prefer to avoid them altogether. Perhaps most notably I have stated I will never use the acronymized version of Future Land Use Map. The purpose of my journalism is to explain what’s happening and you can’t do that if you’re not using the words.
Last week, the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors voted to end all participation in diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. This often goes by the acronym DEI, but that acronym is henceforth banished from this newsletter because it is a short-hand for a much larger sociological issue that perhaps should not be short-handed to pit us versus them. I will use the acronym in a quote.
I don’t have that story yet, but I’m slowly going through my recordings of the two-day meeting and I begin this report about 75 percent of the way through the Academic and Student Life Committee from March 6, 2025. First, a recap of what I’ve written already over on Information Charlottesville.
UVA continues to meet fundraising goals, March 8, 2025
Ellis continues to vote against any capital spending at UVA, March 10, 2025
Nau continues to express concern about scope of proposed Center for the Arts, March 11, 2025
University of Virginia planning to phase out coal plant, March 12, 2025
UVA projects increase in graduate student enrollment through 2031 while undergraduate population will remain flat, March 12, 2025
At the 75 percent mark of the committee meeting, three professors were asked to talk about their experiences teaching at the University of Virginia. One of them is Kenneth Elzinga, an economics professor who has been a member of faculty since 1967.
“This is a curious experience for me because for some of you there's been a vertical relationship where I've been on top as the professor,” Elzinga said. “And that sort of flipped today where you're up here as a Board of Visitors and I'm down here, a guy who works in the trenches as a professor.”
Elzinga gave a sense of what his day to day life is like, teaching long hours while also working to support the economics department. He also wanted to share two concerns.
“One is DEI,” he said. “When I joined the faculty, I thought a lot about it. I tend to think that DEI, the way it's generally implemented as I understand it, is immoral. I'll just put that on the table now. I'm prepared to be talked out of that.”
Elzinga said he would view the practice of “diversity, equity and inclusion” if the people who were implementing policies knew more about the works of African American scholars, naming Thomas Sowell, Jason Riley, Roland Fryer, and Glenn Loury. The Wikipedia page for each individual describes each as a conservative.
Elzinga told the story of one of one colleague in the English Department, now deceased, who kept his political views to himself in order to get tenure.
“I found that really sad,” Elzinga said. “Now, maybe he was mistaken, but that just shouldn't be. Now fast forward. Another professor in the English department that I admire, I've read one of his books, said not too long ago, ‘DEI, that's how we keep the Republicans out!’ Now, what do you make of that? Is that a joke? A quip? Is there some substance behind it?”
Elzinga didn’t name either individual, but he did say that attitude does not promote a spirit of academic freedom. His second concern related to grade inflation which isn’t as relevant to this newsletter but likely very interesting.
There was no further discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies at this meeting. Next up in this series - a portion of the Finance Committee. But, a couple of other stories first.
Public notice: Charlottesville’s lowered tax rate is $0.9128 per $100 of assessed value
What’s the point of calling your company Town Crier Productions if you’re not going to help augment and amplify public notices that the law requires localities to post? The main reason I have a subscription to the physical copy of the Charlottesville Daily Progress is to make sure I see all of the paid notices.
Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders recently introduced a budget for fiscal year 2026 that is not based on any new tax rate increases. But Virginia Code has a set of rules for how much revenue localities can bring without checking in with the public.
“When any annual assessment, biennial assessment, or general reassessment of real property by a county, city, or town would result in an increase of one percent or more in the total real property tax levied, such county, city, or town shall reduce its rate of levy for the forthcoming tax year so as to cause such rate of levy to produce no more than 101 percent of the previous year's real property tax levies,” reads §58.1-3321.
However, localities are free to proceed if they hold a public hearing, a public hearing that has to be advertised. The code further describes what the advertisement must include:
The assessment increase from one calendar year to the next
“The Lowered Rate Necessary to Offset Increased Assessment”
“The Effective Rate Increase”
“The Proposed Total Budget Increase”
Charlottesville’s advertisement was recently published in the Charlottesville Daily Progress with the following information.
“Total assessed value of real property, excluding additional assessments due to new construction of improvements to property, exceeds last year’s total assessed value of real property by 7.36 percent.”
“The tax rate which would levy the same amount of real estate tax as last year, when multiplied by the new total assessed value of real estate with the exclusions mentioned above, would be $0.9128 per $100 of assessed value. This rate will be known as the ‘lowered tax rate.’”
“The City of Charlottesville proposes to adopt a reat estate tax rate of $0.98 per $100 of assessed value. The difference between the lowered tax rate and the proposed rate would be $0.0672 per $100 or 7.359 percent. This different will be known as the “effective tax rate increase.”
“Based on the proposed real property tax rate and changes in other revenues, the total budget of the City of Charlottesville will exceed last year’s by 4.97 percent.”
A public hearing will be held on March 17, 2025 in City Council Chambers at the City Council meeting. For some background information on the budget, take a look at my story. I’ll have a write-up of last week’s first budget work session in a future edition of the newsletter.
Some other public notices of note:
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing at their meeting on March 19 to declare a property at 5624 Brownsville Road as a blighted. According to materials in the meeting packet, the house is partially demolished and such a declaration would allow the county to demolish it at a cost of $31,000. Details here and more info in the next Week Ahead newsletter.
The firm Roudabush, Gale, & Associates are fielding applications for firms to construct infrastructure in Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville’s Southwood Village 3. The ad tells people to use the company’s website to leave information, but the link isn’t secure so I’m not using it.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is enforcing an action against North Garden Ventures LLC for violations of the State Water Control Law. The company owns North Garden Plaza and is permitted to operate a sewage treatment plant that allows for discharges into the North Fork Hardware River, a waterway considered to be impaired due to the presence of too much bacteria. NGV knows they exceeded permissible levels and have entered into a consent decree. They have to take certain actions and pay a civil charge of $5,162.50. The public gets a chance to weigh in with a comment. You can learn more here.
The next one is worth putting into its own story. Back after the break.
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Bank files application with federal government to open bank in Flats at West Village
Construction of the apartment building known as the Flats at West Village was complete in the summer of 2014 when the first residents began to move in. A restaurant called World of Beer opened soon after as did a convenience store.
World of Beer closed and the space was vacant until the recent opening of Mejicali. The convenience store is still there, but a third retail spot has never been fitted out and has remained vacant to this day.
That could be changing.
Old Dominion National Bank of North Garden has filed an application with the Comptroller of the Currency to operate a bank at 852 West Main Street in Charlottesville which is the address of the Flats at West Village. A public notice was published in a recent edition of the Charlottesville Daily Progress.
If you want to comment, you’ll have to write the Director for District Licensing of the Northeastern District, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency at 7 Times Square, 10th Floor Mailroom, New York, NY, 10336 within 30 days of the February 27, 2025 application.
I’ve checked the city’s portal application and there does not appear to be a building permit for this at this time. The city’s communications director has confirmed that one has not yet been filed.
UVA Finance Committee endorses transfer of Virginia Guesthouse, expansion of mail pharmacy
The Finance Committee of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors met on March 7, 2025 and took action on many items of interest to the future of the community.
One is the transfer of a future hotel and convention center known as the Virginia Guesthouse from UVA back to the UVA Foundation.
“We are slated to open this facility in late 2025 and this facility will be approximately 223,000 square feet with 214 rooms and 28,000 square feet of conference space,” said J.J. Davis, executive vice president and chief operating officer at UVA.
The UVA Foundation has slowly been purchasing land in the Emmet / Ivy Corridor to accumulate control for future use by UVA. However, officials have determined that UVA itself should not operate the hotel.
“It is our belief that this is not one of our core competencies and as such we're recommending the University of Virginia Foundation oversee the Virginia GuestHouse management and operations,” Davis said.
The Foundation owns and operates the Boar’s Head Inn.
UVA will continue to own the land and the Foundation will enter into a ground lease. The improvements will be owned by the Foundation but will revert back to UVA after 80 years.
The Finance Committee approved the transfer.
New construction as well as the fitting out of new space at the University of Virginia is guided by the Major Capital Plan. The Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Board of Visitors has to vote to make amendments to the list, and the Finance Committee has to approve the spending of money.
On March 6, the Buildings and Grounds Committee agreed to add two projects to the plan slightly off of the cycle. One of them is a $6 million project to expand the pharmacy that UVA Health uses to fulfil mail order services. This would be at the North Fork Discovery Park.
One member who serves on both committees asked whether this project would be financially self-sustaining.
UVA's executive vice president and chief operating officer said it would be beginning on day one.
“Growth in the pharmacy initiative is obviously a key revenue enhancer for UVA Health,” Davis said. “The pharmacy program makes millions of dollars each year for UVA Health.”
The Finance Committee signed off on this initiative as well. They also received a briefing on the need for a new data center under construction at the Fontaine Research Center. But that’s it for this edition of the newsletter.
Reading material for #830
Albemarle County’s proposed budget includes real estate and personal property tax increases, Erin O’Hare, Charlottesville Tomorrow, March 10, 2025
Charlottesville releases proposed budget, city staff assessing potential impact of federal funding disruptions, Erin O’Hare, Charlottesville Tomorrow, March 10, 2025
Farm outside Charlottesville welcomes living and dead to natural burial ground, EIleen Abbott, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), March 11, 2025
Data centers are changing the landscape. Here’s how they may affect rural Virginia. Grace Mamon, Cardinal News, March 12, 2025
#830 comes to a close
I’m determined to get through this entire meeting of the Board of Visitors and appreciate your patience as I seek to write up for myself the end of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Others have reported it, and I certainly will. But I want to be thorough.
I had a serious case of writer’s block with the first segment today but I got through and here you have another set of stories. There will be another set tomorrow. After that? Not sure. At some point I have to do the radio version and the podcast version
This is not a publication that always covers so much from the UVA Board of Visitors, but I feel a need to do so this time. I have no association with UVA except having moved here to take a job in 2002. It didn’t go well. I did not fit into the culture. Somehow I stuck around town and got involved with journalism and I’m still here.
Coincidentally I went to Mejicali last night at the Flats at West Village for the first time ever. It was a fantastic experience and one I’m going to have again. I first wrote about that building back in October 2012 when it was the first project to take advantage of a zoning code that allowed for height and density on West Main. Others had been planned, but this one actually proceeded.
World of Beer was a soulless place. I went a couple of times, but was turned off by how corporate the place was. The bartender had to go through a whole spiel and it was tedious. Last night, I felt like I was in a real place with soul and character, and I felt like I was in the center of Charlottesville.
The promise of West Main Street is that it connects town and gown. I almost never visit Grounds anymore, and the Corner is a place I feel excluded from. I want to challenge that, and challenge the way I think about things.
For now, I want to end this newsletter and get on to the next one. So I will end with a YouTube link of some Cumbia, music that makes me feel alive.