A main purpose of this newsletter is to write about what’s happening with local government. Everyone in the United States of America lives within some sort of locality, either a city or a county. This newsletter is sometimes a podcast as is this case with this edition which provides potential listeners with stories about the budget formation in Albemarle County and Charlottesville.
Your budget. You are part of your local budget. And if you are a resident of either jurisdiction aforementioned, you can take a listen now to the early part of a development process that is still going on. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I encourage you to go ahead and hit play for this bit of the historical record.
A very nice plug on Reddit last night has resulted in hundreds of new subscribers. Welcome! Everything in today’s audio edition has already been posted in the newsletter. On Friday I put together the audio version for this podcast and for a radio version that airs on WTJU 91.1 FM at 6 a.m. on Saturdays. My first professional gig was an intern for WVTF Public Radio in Roanoke back in 1995. This is a throwback to that and provides me a chance to reset for the next set of stories.
In this edition:
Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders presents City Council with FY26 budget based on no new taxes (learn more)
Many people weigh in on Albemarle’s recommended budget at first public hearing (learn more)
An account of Albemarle County’s first work session on the FY2026 budget (learn more)
Albemarle budget staff provide broad overview of where $480.5 million in spending will go in FY26 (learn more)
Albemarle’s police chief and fire chief explain why they need additional funds (learn more)
First shout-out: Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!
There are a lot of stories each week that go out through this newsletter, but no one information outlet can put together the entire picture. That’s why each regular edition ends with a section called Reading Material.
Charlottesville is fortunate to have a media landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.
There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.
Now more than ever, journalism is needed. To be a citizen of a democracy, you must seek information from multiple sources. Consume only one and you are at risk of becoming a zombie!
Second shout-out: Advertise on Information Charlottesville
Long-time readers may know that most of the stories posted through this newsletter are also posted to Information Charlottesville. Sometimes the stories go there first! Both this newsletter and that website are part of the same information gathering operation, an operation I hope to continue to grow!
There are multiple ways to contribute to Town Crier Productions.
One new one is to place an advertisement on Information Charlottesville. I’m in the early days of experimenting with visual ways for organizations to get their message across to a growing audience. I’ve not yet put together a media kit, but I’m ready to offer a special for March. What’s the special? More details in the audio version of the podcasts.
Advertising on Information Charlottesville could be a great way to keep my business going while also growing yours. I think there are new ways to do advertising, but I don’t know what they are until I’m allowed to continue testing.
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