Monthly Archive for April, 2007

Page 7 of 13

BoS Sets Property Tax Rate

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 11, 2007 in Politics and Taxes. 12 Comments

Though budget discussion are ongoing, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this afternoon to set a property tax rate of $0.68 per $100 of assessed value, the county announced in a press release. After county assessments climbed by 15%, county staff proposed a 5.6% spending increase. Supervisors initially had widely divergent views on what the tax rate should be, with a plurality supporting $0.68, and one member each supporting $0.71, $0.72, and $0.74. (Lowering it to $0.58 would have left the average tax bill unchanged.) The board took a stab at a $0.65 rate, but that didn’t pass.

04/12 Update: Jeremy Borden has an engaging look at how $0.68 was arrived at in today’s Progress. Supervisor Dennis Rooker points out that rate is the minimum required, just enough to fund schools at last year’s levels and provide raises to keep teacher salaries competitive.

Wyant Running for Reelection

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 11, 2007 in In Brief. Closed

White Hall representative on the BoS David Wyant is running for a second term, he’s announced to nobody’s surprise. He’s being challenged by Democrat Ann Mallek.  #

Blogger’s Wife Hero of Blaze

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 11, 2007 in In Brief. Closed

Michael Prichard writes about his wife who ran door to door at Chatham Ridge yesterday to evacuate homeowners as a fire spread between their houses.  #

Council Passes the 2007 Budget

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 10, 2007 in Politics and Taxes. 21 Comments

By a 4-1 vote this evening, City Council passed the 2007-8 budget, Henry Graff reports for NBC-29. It came in at a record $122M, requiring a property tax rate of $0.95 per $100 of assessed value. Given assessment increases, that amounts to an average tax increase of 14%. City staff had proposed a $136.5M budget. Councilor Kevin Lynch was the lone dissenter, saying that he simply couldn’t support a $0.95 tax rate.

For more, see the City Budget Office webpage or the city’s press release.

Local Students Win Peabody Award

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 10, 2007 in Entertainment. 4 Comments

Sahar Adish and her family fled Afghanistan in 1998, to escape the Taliban, after the fundamentalists seized control of Kabul. They made their way to a refugee camp in Pakistan where they lived until 2002, when they were granted asylum in the United States. The International Rescue Committee resettled them in Charlottesville, getting her geologist father work as a hotel janitor and her teacher mother a job at a day care center. Three years ago, as a student at Light House, Adish made a film about her family’s escape to America, entitled “Sahar: Before the Sun.” Fellow students Joe Babarsky, Sanja Jovanovic, Luke Tilghman all worked on the film, which went on to be widely broadcast on the Independent Film Channel, among others.

Family

Now comes the news that Sahar and her three collaborators have won a Peabody award, Katherine Ludwig reports in the current C-Ville Weekly. The Peabody is the highest award in journalism — to have one’s first film win a Peabody is akin to walking into a baseball park for the first time and hitting the grand slam that wins the World Series. The award is for “Beyond Borders: Personal Stories from a Small Planet,” broadcast on CNN International in 2006, which included the Light House film along with eight others.

I can only find an excerpt of the movie online. While down with the flu last year I was thrilled to stumble across the film on TV, and doubly thrilled when I realized that it was local. There’s no caveat here; it’s not good despite having been made by a group of teenagers. It’s just flat-out a stunning work.