Thursday, July 2, 2026: Fluvanna Supervisors moving ahead with sales tax referendum
Plus: A look at Charlottesville’s budget for FY2027
Today’s sponsor: Big builds, small repairs, and everything in between, Nola Builds does it all
Day 183 is the halfway point of the year in the Gregorian calendar and likely others as well. July 2 is also the day that John Adams thought would serve as the birthday of a new country. The Second Continental Congress adopted the Resolution for Independence formally severing ties with Great Britain. Somehow a different document is what is mostly remembered. Either way, this is Charlottesville Community Engagement documenting the now as much as possible.
In this edition:
Fluvanna County Supervisors agree to initiate a referendum on a sales tax increase on the November ballot with proceeds going to school construction
Albemarle is waiving admission fees for three county swimming lakes through July 4 to help people beat the heat
Officials from Charlottesville and Huehuetenango will officially sign a Sister City partnership tonight
A look at some of what is Charlottesville’s budget for Fiscal Year 2027 including more than $11.5 million in affordable housing spending
First shout-out: Clearing the Air Townhall and Dinner
The Community Climate Collaborative is about halfway through an expanded Charlottesville Gas decarbonization study that builds on the findings of the utility’s 2024 study. There are many ways to learn more available to the community this summer.
On Tuesday, July 7 at 6:30 pm, join C3, the Center for Community Partnerships, and the Southern Environmental Law Center for a free community dinner at CitySpace with project consultants Dunsky Energy and Climate Advisors. They’ll share share updates on the project status and share thoughts in a relaxed setting.
Doors will open at 6:30pm and there will be a brief presentation at 7 pm. Participants are welcome to drop in at any time, make a plate catered by Charlottesville’s very own beloved local Pearl Island (with vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options all available), and engage with other community members and project partners. The project status will be presented in multiple formats, including both the presentation and posterboards, with project partners available to discuss their part in the work throughout the evening. Registration required so they can order enough food - sign up here!
Fluvanna Supervisors vote to initiate sales referendum process
Between now and Election Day, localities all across the Commonwealth of Virginia will be deciding whether to move forward with a referendum to raise additional funds for school construction.
The final biennial budget adopted by the Virginia General Assembly on June 29 has extended permission to all cities and counties to ask voters if they would support a one-percent sales tax.
“There are certain localities, mostly in the south side, like four or five localities that already have this authority and so now they’ve expanded it statewide,” said James Whitten, the Fluvanna County Attorney.
Whitten told the Fluvanna Board of Supervisors on Wednesday that localities have until August 14 to initiate the process which involves seeking an order from the circuit court. The original language in the budget amendment required a locality to do so within 105 days, but an amendment from Governor Spanberger changed that to 81 days.
“The question on the ballot would include language that the revenues from the sales tax would be used solely for capital projects for construction or renovation of schools and it would expire on June 30th of 2046,” Whitten said. “If the referendum [should] pass, the Board would approve an ordinance and the tax be effective on the first day of the month, at least 120 days after the adoption.”
Whitten said the sales tax increase would not apply to food for human consumption or personal hygiene products.
Last year, Fluvanna County adopted a four percent meals tax and half of those revenues go toward school construction projects. The vote was 3-2 according to a report in the Fluvanna Review from March 26, 2025.
One Supervisor said he would support putting on the ballot but said he had a concern with an additional tax.
“If people decide that that’s, that they want to do this, you know, that’s on them,” said Fork Union District Supervisor Mike Goad. “My main concern is that we’re putting forward attacks for them to decide on when we already have a tax that is going to that.”
Rivanna District Supervisor Tony O”Brien said he felt the additional funding would help the county with debt to pay off big-ticket items. A new elementary school could be as much as $50 million.
“The ability to have a million dollars of revenue towards debt would certainly reduce a burden,” O’Brien said. “Plus, it’s not just on the homeowners.
County Executive Eric Dahl said the debt service payment for the Fluvanna County High School is about $5 million a year.
Supervisors agreed to initiate the process. They’ll later approve ballot language which could include a reminder about the purpose of the meals tax. Goad also said he wants to have a conversation on a possible repeal.
Albemarle waiving payment at beaches to provide cooling spaces
The extreme heat wave continues this week with a second day with temperatures forecast above 100°F. The National Weather Service has issued an extreme heat warning for today and tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The heat wave began on Wednesday with a temperature of 101°F observed at 3:59 p.m. at Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport. The heat index was recorded at 103°F at 4:53 p.m, a measure that takes high humidity into account.
To provide more places for people to cool down who may not have air conditioning, Albemarle County is dropping entrance fees at three county parks with lakes. You can go to Chris Greene Lake Park, Mint Springs Park, and Walnut Creek Park from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today through Saturday, July 4.
“Albemarle County’s Office of Emergency Management is actively monitoring weather conditions, including heat advisories or warnings issued for our region,” reads an information release sent out yesterday afternoon.
Fluvanna County will open up its library as a cooling center on both Friday and Saturday and will be showing movies. Fork Union Baptist Church will also be open to provide a cooling space today and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Virginia Department of Health has a database with other cooling spaces if you’re looking for something close to you.
Charlottesville to celebrate Sister City Partnership with Guatemalan city
After a four year courtship, Charlottesville City Council officially agreed last fall to add the western Guatemalan city of Huehuetenango as its latest cultural partner.
“Huehuetenango and Charlottesville are well-matched as Sister Cities, based on shared values, cultural similarities, and strong support from individuals and organizations in both communities including ongoing collaboration with the local advocacy group, GuateMayaAlliance,” reads a resolution from November 17, 2025.
The Charlottesville Sister Cities Commission had been seeking a Spanish-speaking community and entered into “friendship” status in May 2021. A delegation from Huehuetenango visited in October 2023 followed by a trip by officials here to the western highlands last October.
Tonight leaders from the two communities will gather in Studio 11 at the McGuffey Art Center at 201 Second Street NW for a signing ceremony and cultural celebration.
“The celebration will feature African dance, Andean music, mariachi and ranchera performances, spoken word storytelling, live guitar music, and other cultural presentations,” reads an information release sent out on July 1.
Some facts about Huehuetenango pulled from Wikipedia:
The city is the capital of one of Guatemala’s 22 “departments”, a division of government similar to the U.S. state but with a governor appointed by the nation’s president.
Huehuetenango translates into ‘place of the ancients’ in the Nahuatl language. The place was settled by the Mayans
One website that collects population data from around the world estimated the population at 121,768 in 2018. That’s the source that Wikipedia uses at least.
Resources to learn more:
Second shout out: Re-Leaf’s tree preservation program is in full swing!
With a $190,000, three-year grant from the Virginia Department of Forestry to preserve existing, mature trees in two low-canopy neighborhoods, ReLeaf Cville had provided free tree care to 100 trees and 56 homeowners this winter in the Fifeville and 10th and Page neighborhood.
They’ve been assisted by three arborists companies (Charlottesville Tree Service, Davey Tree Experts and Van Yahres Tree Company) in the provision of expert care.
While planting young trees is vital for our future, preserving our existing mature trees is the fastest way to protect Charlottesville from the rising heat as the climate changes.
Help ReLeaf Cville protect the shade we already have by preserving more trees. Learn more about their preservation initiatives and support their work at their website!
A look at Charlottesville’s budget for FY2027
We’re in a new fiscal year now which serves as a resource of sorts for a locality’s financial clock. Elected bodies adopt a budget in the spring that guides spending based on the amount of revenue expected to be collected.
When City Manager Sam Sanders introduced a budget in early March, he proposed a two-cent increase on the real property tax rate in order to provide additional revenue to fill a revenue gap fueled in part by the ongoing impact of collective bargaining.
In April, Council agreed to limit that increase to one cent for a real property tax rate of $0.99 per $100 of assessed value.
“This increase produces an additional $1.2 million,” Sanders wrote in the budget summary. “The revised proposed General Fund revenue and expenditure estimates both total $279,414,659 which represents a total increase of 5.43 percent or $14.4 million over the FY26 Budget.”
No other rates changed this year but residential assessments were up 4.74 percent and commercial assessments were up 2.29 percent. That worked out to an average increase of 3.72 percent.
The city will receive $21.88 million in revenue-sharing funds from Albemarle County based on a 1982 referendum agreed to by voters in both localities. There are no specific requirements for how the city uses this money.
For instance, none of that funding is earmarked to pay for services operated by Charlottesville Area Transit, wholly-owned by the city government. A campaign from advocacy groups has led to Council agreeing to a plan to hire ten drivers a year for four years to provide enough drivers to fully implement a transit strategic plan. Council learned about that plan at a December 1 work session as I reported.
“This budget reflects a significant new investment in transit with the addition of 10 additional drivers, 5 support staff for enhanced operations, and the absorption of the collective bargaining contract increase and offset for zero-fare continuing,” Sanders wrote in the summary. “This is a $2.2 million additional investment in CAT for FY27, with the county contributing its share of $3.1 million and the city contributing $6.1 million towards the total FY27 CAT budget of $16.77 million.”
To try to hire those drivers, CAT will hold an open house and a job fair July 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at CAT’s headquarters at 1545 Avon Street Extended.
Housing in FY2027
In March 2021, Charlottesville City Council adopted an Affordable Housing Plan that called for $10 million a year in spending for at least ten years. This budget continues to meet that level.
“This budget includes $11.5 million in FY2027, and over $41 million in the five-year capital program for multiple affordable housing initiatives,” Sanders wrote.
The budget released in March has no specific mention about the city’s $6.2 million purchase of 2000 Holiday Drive to serve as a low-barrier shelter and service center for people who don’t have a home. But the document does set aside money for that purpose, as did the FY2026 budget.
“An annual subsidy of $500,000 is allocated in this budget to support the operations of a low barrier shelter,” Sanders said. “In FY26, the funds were redistributed to support other sheltering priorities while the work to vision a one stop shelter facility was being developed.”
That work remains under development with three agencies in the Continuum of Care working to produce an operations plan for the facility.
Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders said on June 15 that the groups are still working on an operational plan.
“They asked for six months and I gave them three months,” Sanders said. “So end of August for the plan that we discussed.”
Those groups are the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless, the Haven, and Peoples and Congregations Engaged in Ministry.
Charlottesville City Council briefed on low-barrier shelter by groups that provide the programming, March 27, 2026
Many details remain to be worked out for how three groups will work together at Charlottesville’s future low-barrier shelter, May 15, 2026
The $500,000 for the low-barrier shelter is underneath Housing Programs in the Contributions section of the budget. The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will receive $300,000 in funding for general operations, the first of what is expected to be an ongoing payment to provide “services to public housing residents of the City of Charlottesville to promote upward mobility and self-sufficiency.”
The Public Housing Association of Residents will receive $125,000 for operational funding.
“As the duly recognized federal mandated representative of all residents in public housing, we work closely with (but are separate from) the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority (CRHA),” reads a description provided by PHAR.
Both PHAR and CRHA are now considered “fundamental” organizations which include the Charlottesville Free Clinic, the Child Health Partnership, and the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.
The Blue Ridge Coalition for the Homeless will receive $250,000 to “to support the lead agency in its efforts to interrupt homelessness and serve the critical needs of the unhoused residing in Charlottesville city limits.”
Articles by other journalists you are encouraged to read next:
Fluvanna County Library open as cooling center, CBS19, Fluvanna County, June 30, 2026
Valley Link transmission line proposal advances despite pushback from rural Virginians, Maggie Glass, WWBT, June 30, 2026
Nelson County gets new emergency vehicle operations center, Charlotte Gentry, CBS19 News, July 1, 2026
#1082 saw construction of the Rochester Cathedral
I do this work because I do this work. That’s not really a satisfactory answer but it’s all I can offer some days. I wake up and this is what I feel compelled to do. I do hope I can compel myself to get them out earlier but morning self isn’t always spry especially when the workday ended at 10 p.m.
Now I have to go do the WTJU radio show a day early because they have a day off tomorrow. I do not have a day off and do not know what I would do if I had one. Probably work. In no way do I think this is healthy, but I may as take advantage of the never-ending list of tasks.
I am grateful for those who have take paid subscriptions, those who are still supporting through Patreon, those who are contributing to the Tiny News Collective, and those who are taking advantage of an introductory advertising package.
Interested in that last one?
Drop me a line.
The radio show will be an archive version with stories from this year, but I am hoping to put out a podcast Saturday morning. This has not been a sound-heavy week.
Anyway, on to the hot day that can only be appreciated if you can understand it from the perspective of a gila monster.