we are 6 months out from the approval of the FY24 city budget, so you know what that means: budget season never actually ended. tonight's pre-meeting meeting of the charlottesville city council is a budget work session
any changes to the real estate tax rate need to be finalized for advertisement in february, so that has to be decided well in advance of the budget actually being passed in april (but they can pass a budget with a LOWER than advertised rate, just not a higher one)
there are two possible dates for a community budget forum in march. mayor snook says he prefers thursday over wednesday so it doesn't conflict with his choir practice. everyone else either doesn't care or prefers thursday, so mark your calendar for march 23, i guess.
oh, this is a brand new thing! the city manager will also hold a community budget forum BEFORE he presents his draft budget to council, so community input can be (potentially) included in that first draft that comes before council.
as always, you can visit the budget office's page on the city website to click around in the budget explorer. it isn't gorgeous, but it is interesting!
charlottesville.gov
charlottesville.gov
the finance director will formally present council with the final budget surplus in december, but there is a projected $12mil surplus to be allocated. the proposed allocations below are based on prior council conversations, but aren't set in stone
DCM sam sanders says the meadow creek trail project is expected to be completed next year. mayor snook says he hopes to see that completed before the beginning of the next school year, but sanders doesn't have more specifics at the moment.
things covered by other savings/one time funds will have to be included in the base budget going forward. the numbers in red are discretionary/not set in stone, but the other figures are staffing related and will need to be accounted for in next year's budget
krisy hammill says this anticipated 2-4% revenue growth rate is, "if there is such a thing as normal," in line with historical trends.
"it's kind of anybody's guess" how still-climbing mortgage interest rates will impact real estate assessments next year.
"it's kind of anybody's guess" how still-climbing mortgage interest rates will impact real estate assessments next year.
funding requests far outstrip the funding allocated to the vibrant community fund. hammill asks if council would like to leave that funding level or if there is interest in trying to increase that pool.
oh, and the full agenda packet is here (hammill's slides are not in this packet, but they'll probably be on the budget web page later on)
civicclerk.blob.core.windows.net
civicclerk.blob.core.windows.net
councilor magill asks if there has been a sort of 'cost of living' adjustment to the vibrant community funding allocation or are we expecting the same amount of service for a shrinking investment? the answer seems to be that there has not been a conscious effort to do that.
hammill says the pathways fund has been in the budget at a flat amount for 'quite some time,' but using federal funds during covid, the program distributed $1.5mil in FY22.
pinkston asks for more background of what the program is.
pinkston asks for more background of what the program is.
misty graves from human services says the pathways program has been the funding source for the community resource hotline during the pandemic - people impacted by the pandemic can get help with rent & utilities.
with pandemic related protections ending, utility cut offs are back - the pathways program has been disbursing funds to keep residents' utilities connected.
charlottesville.gov
charlottesville.gov
"$84,000, even pre-covid, wasn't enough, even remotely enough," councilor magill says. payne agrees it needs to be higher "by a substantial amount," but would like to see specific historical data on the program.
"it will be very critical to fund," councilor payne says of the pathways program - it is effectively the only resource people have in emergencies to prevent eviction or utility shutoff. funding this program can & does prevent residents from becoming homeless.
funding requests for affordable housing initiatives will no longer be part of the vibrant community funds application process, but will go through the CAHF instead
some possible sticker shock items for the upcoming budget - hammill says there are "significant increases in construction costs" that will have an impact on the CIP budget.
councilor payne says he's heard, anecdotally, that construction costs for a local development have shot up as much as 30% - is that consistent with what the city might be facing? hammill says the increase is "a double digit millions of dollars" increase on existing projects.
looking back at previous slides... if we are hitting that low end of $4mil in growth, $3.2mil of that is already eaten up. potentially not a lot of wiggle room here.
"this next budget is going to be much tighter and the decisions that council will have to make are going to be much harder," acting city manager michael rogers says.
"this budget season is like any other budget season, just like for any other city," krisy hammill says, in that "there's always way more needs than we have funding and i think that it's important that you know we're able to keep communication lines open."
councilor pinkston is experiencing an existential crisis about the timeline for advertising the real estate tax rate (this is set by state law)
hammill says there will be both work sessions & public engagement sessions on the school project in november, so council should have a pretty firm idea of the projected costs on that by november.
"we need to be really strategic in allocating the rest of that money," councilor payne says of the remaining ARP dollars the city has. for him, top of the list should be maintaining the city's commitment to affordable housing initiatives the city has already invested in.
payne says the city also has to figure out how to fund the compensation study, which is the first step to getting city salaries more in line with what is competitive in the region
"i think the investments in staff capacity are going to be a big priority," payne says, "particularly when it comes to climate & some of the infrastructure projects" that we don't have staff capacity to implement
mayor snook says the city is currently advertising for SEVENTY vacant positions. staff capacity is way down. "i don't want to be saving money for that reason," snook says - short term savings from vacancies aren't really savings in the long term.
"i'm willing to raise taxes on this," councilor magill says of the need to find funding to do the compensation study & get city employee pay competitive & livable.
with construction costs rising on existing capital projects & the ongoing need to stay committed to affordable housing, councilor magill says she just doesn't think it's possible to meet the city's commitments without some significant tax increases.
and that concludes the 4pm work session. council will now go into closed session until the regular business meeting at 6:30pm.
the closed session will discuss "the current contract for city management services by the robert bobb group,
consideration of the appointment of a permanent city manager, and for consultation with legal counsel regarding those matters." 👀
consideration of the appointment of a permanent city manager, and for consultation with legal counsel regarding those matters." 👀
here's the agenda for the regular business meeting of the charlottesville city council, which should be getting underway in a few minutes. it looks long, but a lot of those items should be quick votes on things already settled.
civicclerk.blob.core.windows.net
civicclerk.blob.core.windows.net
in announcements: the city is seeking feedback on the climate action plan & has several upcoming 'office hour sessions' to hear more about the plan - find out more here: charlottesville.gov
mayor snook emphasizes that the climate action plan, presented to council at the last 4pm work session, has NOT been voted on - that was just a presentation to council. there is still time to comment on the plan before council takes any action.
councilor sena magill offers her condolences to the friends & family of gequetta “G” murray-key, the associate superintendent of the albemarle charlottesville regional jail, who passed away recently.
cbs19news.com
cbs19news.com
we have no takers for public comment on the consent agenda. pinkston moves to adopt, wade seconds, and the consent agenda carries 5-0 without any discussion.
for the city manager's update, rogers gives an update on fire prevention week, which was last week. apparently this year's theme was "fire won't wait, plan your escape" which feels very ominous.
the charlottesville fire department reminds everyone to ensure they have working smoke & carbon monoxide detectors. you can call the fire dept to request a free smoke alarm
charlottesville.gov
charlottesville.gov
we are finally getting free public restrooms on the downtown mall (during business hours). the city will be leasing the restrooms inside york place for $5000/mo.
nbc29.com
nbc29.com
rogers says his office intends to come to council "with a request to appoint citizen members to the committee" on the downtown mall, which is currently an internal advisory group.
jeremy evans of the charlottesville fire department will serve as the city's first emergency management coordinator, reporting to the director of public safety & making regular reports to deputy city manager sam sanders.
rogers also announces that deputy chief michael thomas, who just joined the fire department here over the summer after a long career in lynchburg, will be stepping up to serve as acting fire chief with the departure of chief hezedean smith next week.
jason vandever, city treasurer, has an update for council on the city's investment portfolio. that cash spike in june is common, he says, because that's when tax revenue comes in.
councilor payne asks vandever what progress has been made on the city's vote (years ago) to divest from fossil fuels. vandever says the city divested it's operating funds from a security, chevron?, and the investment manager is aware of the city's posture on the matter.
as for the city's retirement fund, the answer is a little fuzzier, but employees on the defined contribution plan can choose an investment option that does not include fossil fuels.
only a few public commenters at the top of the meeting tonight, and now we're onto everyone's favorite topics: vacating a public utility easement
the law requires this to be a public hearing, but i can't imagine who has an opinion on this sewer line
"it seems pretty straightforward," councilor payne says. he starts to make the motion, but the draft motion is missing from the packet... but we are soldiering bravely on, making the motion to vacate the utility easement. it carries unanimously without discussion.
commissioner of revenue todd divers offers a little editorializing here, seeming to disagree with the state supreme court decision forcing us to modify our business license ordinance.... but we have a motion, a second, and it carries unanimously.
this case was filed a few years ago! i lost track of it, didn't realize it had made it to the state supreme court.
dailyprogress.com
dailyprogress.com
next up is another amendment to the city code, this time updating the transient occupancy tax ordinance to align with recent state law changes - notably, things like 'cleaning fees' charged by airbnb hosts ARE now subject to lodging tax
divers has no specific answers on how much revenue might be generated by these changes, but the rush to get this passed has to do with changes to the platforms themselves - they'll start collecting that tax & remitting it directly to the city starting this month.
councilor payne asks if this change in state law will make it easier for the city to track down noncompliant airbnbs. divers says if airbnb provides all the necessary data along with that money, yes, but he's not confident they'll get the data they need from the platforms.
this discussion reminds me that i did forget to send NDS my list of airbnbs i found in charlottesville that are absolutely operating illegally. i'm gonna refresh my list and send that over. divers says staff just doesn't have the capacity to do that sort of work.
the amendment to the city code to bring us into alignment with state law re: collection of transient occupancy tax carries unanimously. we have one more agenda item from todd divers - an updated ordinance on the cigarette tax
the city joined a regional cigarette tax board last fall, which has been functioning for months now. this vote would just get the city code updated. it carries unanimously.
oops, one more from todd: he has wanted to merge the two different real estate tax relief programs for a while now, but it isn't practical to do that right now. this ordinance would bring the two programs into closer alignment for easier administration.
there are quite a few changes proposed in here, but they mostly seem positive to me, mainly geared toward making it easier to apply. divers also asks to change the rule that requires a medical affidavit for people who miss deadlines due to illness - just let staff make exceptions
the mayor is saying a lot of numbers and abbreviations and quite honestly i've lost interest.
if you've ever wanted to sit in the room while a lawyer does line by line edits to a document OUT LOUD, fixating on placement of parentheses, log into the zoom right now. it's great stuff.
ok well this is actually a relevant question - if the home is owned by a family trust or a single member LLC, does that qualify as "owner occupied" for purposes of qualifying for real estate tax relief.
divers says they've never had an LLC issue arise, but they do qualify trusts
divers says they've never had an LLC issue arise, but they do qualify trusts
city attorney lisa robertson says in the event that there is confusion, her office can assist in making the determination about how the title is held & if that's attributed to a specific individual. the rule is meant to disqualify people with multiple houses.
"if i could interrupt, i apologize, i'm wondering, do we feel like this whole ordinance might profit with 2 more weeks worth of conversation?" councilor pinkston asks (he wants to send this back to todd & lisa to hammer out so we can stop talking about it. it's been half an hour)
councilor magill is concerned that using an income limit based on a family of 4 for a program that primarily serves the elderly who live alone isn't a good starting point. robertson says she and todd can take another look at determining appropriate income limits.
we are officially tabling this until the first meeting in november. the city attorney & the commissioner of revenue will bring it back with clarifications & edits. divers emphasizes that it can't wait any longer than that because they need to get underway for the next year soon.
next up is an appropriation for replacing the city's fuel tank.
the below ground tank that supplies city vehicles has reached the end of its usable life and is becoming uninsurable, says michael goddard.
the below ground tank that supplies city vehicles has reached the end of its usable life and is becoming uninsurable, says michael goddard.
pinkston asks some clarifying questions - since the initial cost estimate, the cost of this project has about doubled. pinkston asks what the cost benefit would be to just decommission the site entirely and rely on the fuel card system they're using now (~$300k to decommission)
pinkston doesn't want to replace the tank, asking if the city could just keep buying gas at gas stations. acting city manager michael rogers says "we have a lot of vehicles. fuel is required. this particular tank is essential to our operations." it costs more to not have the tank
pinkston says he wants more explanation & perhaps a site visit. payne says he's not sure there's an opportunity to save any money here, but he's happy to have more discussion if it means we could save a million dollars.
despite pinkston's request for more details about the aging gas tank, this will go on a future consent agenda for a vote (unless something changes in the next two weeks)
next up is a 5 year extension of an existing agreement with dogwood housing. they've updated the resolution - they voted unanimously to extend the loan for 5 years under its current terms.
next up, according to city atty robertson is "a process by which major construction projects, major
improvements to real estate could be conducted through a competitive process that is more flexible and less proscriptive than the public procurement act"
improvements to real estate could be conducted through a competitive process that is more flexible and less proscriptive than the public procurement act"
i'll be honest with you, i did not get this far in my pre-read of the packet and this is outside my existing knowledge base! the info in the packet starts on p 142
civicclerk.blob.core.windows.net
civicclerk.blob.core.windows.net
"essentially this is going to give us the freedom to work with local nonprofit partners," pinkston says. he says it allows flexibility in procurement for smaller projects and public-private partnerships.
with one small amendment to fix an error (this should read 1500 both times, instead of "five hundred (1500)", it passes unanimously
i'm not sure why this got pulled last month, but the jefferson school's rental assistance is up for a vote now
pinkston says he's having trouble remembering the history of this arrangement - the issue got lost in the shuffle with so much turnover at city hall
this resolution will appropriate $107k to the jefferson school african american heritage center. it'll go on the next consent agenda.
"i know there's a bigger discussion about nonprofit leases & rentals, but i think it would be very short-sighted for us to lose some of these community spaces for just another restaurant or you know, whatever else," councilor payne says of the JSAAHC.
finance director chris cullinan has the first reading on this ARP appropriation. mayor snook asks what the long term plan for premier circle, an emergency shelter, is. that shelter is sunsetting - this $$ is operating expenses through april.
these non-congregate emergency shelter beds were set up at the height of the pandemic to prevent the spread of covid. the goal is obviously to move people into permanent supportive housing, but that's not addressed in this appropriation. there is no year round shelter here.
this is just a first reading on this ARP appropriation, it'll go on the next consent agenda. our last action item is a first reading on a resolution to appropriate $20k for reusable bags for SNAP & WIC recipients so they aren't negatively impacted by the new plastic bag tax
"how much does a bag cost?" mayor snook asks
DCM sam sanders says the high recyclable content bags they're looking at cost $3.75, but he's optimistic he can negotiate that price down based on volume.
DCM sam sanders says the high recyclable content bags they're looking at cost $3.75, but he's optimistic he can negotiate that price down based on volume.
with no one raising any additional business, we are at closing matters by the public. there's no one physically present in council chambers, but we have people on via zoom.
tanesha hudson is concerned the PPEA guidelines adopted by council will lead to organizations with ties to councilors or their associates getting priority in procurement (i have to assume the standard conflict of interest rules all still apply, but i respect the skepticism)
with no other takers for public comment, we are adjourned before 9pm.
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