Back in 1982, Albemarle County was weary of Charlottesville annexing the ever-growing urban ring, enlarging the city and shrinking the county’s tax base. So a deal was struck, preventing the city from expanding but obligating the county to pay the city a percentage of the county’s revenue. In yesterday’s Progress, Jeremy Borden and Seth Rosen wrote about the Board of Supervisors’ Lindsay Dorrier‘s frustration about those payments, which will come to $13M this year. (Lloyd Snook points out that no supervisor objects more strongly than Lindsay Dorrier, whose district is in no danger of annexation.) Dorrier complains that $13M is the most that the county has ever had to pay, and thinks it’s time to look at changing that agreement.
The city, of course, has zero interest in entertaining such an idea, and for good cause. The best quote about this comes from City Manager Gary O’Connell: “We will be ready at a moment’s notice to start a discussion about giving up the revenue sharing agreement and doing annexation.”
I want to know when can the city set up the same deal with UVa: They stop annexing land, Charlottesville gives them a percentage of revenue.
Ironically, shortly after the revenue sharing agreement was signed, the General Assembly put a moratorium on annexations that continues today. Even if Mr. O’Connell wanted to discuss annexation, that would not be an option for the City of Charlottesville.
The only way to end or modify the agreement is by mutual agreement of the Board of Supervisors, City Council, and a referendum in the County. Alternatively, the agreement would be ended by the City reverting to a town, thus becoming part of the County.
Brian Wheeler, Charlottesville Tomorrow
Brian,
What do you think will happen with this?
I would think that there are other potential ways to end or modify the agreement, including but not limited to General Assembly action or a suit. It’s kind of interesting that the agreement was crafted with no expiration/review dates or other milestones built into it.
If the county has indeed built an urban ring around C’ville that’s the same population as the city, then I suggested they quickly discover that $13M is an extremely good deal and that they stop complaining ASAP.