Monthly Archive for November, 2008

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City, County Wrestle with Budget Questions

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 20, 2008 in Taxes. 15 Comments

After years of increasing property values—and property taxes—the collapse of the real estate bubble has left both Charlottesville and Albemarle are facing some hard decisions on their budgets and tax rates. They don’t know how to forecast revenues for the upcoming budget years, and that makes it tough for them to know what they’ll be able to fund. Worse still, state budget cuts will likely reduce services to local governments (but without corresponding state tax cuts), leaving localities having to make up the difference.

Rachana Dixit explained Charlottesville’s situation in the Progress on Tuesday. The city has to raise its tax rate in order to maintain existing services, unless they want to end up with a $1.8M deficit (about a 1.5% overrun). Alternately, of course, they can cut $1.8M worth of services. Council has assumed no tax rate increase as their starting point, Sean Tubbs reports for Charlottesville Tomorrow, though that’s a philosophical approach that doesn’t indicate how they’ll ultimately plug that gap.

Brandon Shulleeta explained the county’s predicament in the Progress a week ago. They’re facing a $4.9M shortfall with their existing 71¢ property tax rate. County staff figures they’d have to let 47 positions remain vacant, get rid of all raises for employees, delay the Crozet library by two years, push back maintenance on the jail for five years, eliminate much of the funding for new fire stations, and slash funding for transportation. In part because their board is split between Democrats and Republicans, the talk there is all about tax rates. BoS chair Ken Boyd wants county staff to establish a budget using a 74.5¢ rate, a number that would preserve the same dollar value of tax payments as the current rate, but would require lots of spending cuts. David Slutzky, on the other hand, wants the budget to begin at a 90¢ rate, the level at which the county could maintain services, and figures they can decide what to cut out from there.

Given the state of the economy—bad, with genuine fears of sliding into a depression—it’s tough to see how municipalities can justify increasing real estate taxes now. We’ve all got less money, and the sensible among us are cutting our spending as a result; Charlottesville and Albemarle will have to do the same.

Whole Foods Construction Stops

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 18, 2008 in Business and Development. 73 Comments

Work on the new Whole Foods has stopped, Rachana Dixit writes in today’s Daily Progress. The store wouldn’t comment on the status of the development, and the land’s owners—who have provided a 99-year ground lease to Whole Foods—have no idea why construction has halted. The national chain’s profits dropped sharply this past quarter.

11/20 Update: It’s back on. Apparently the city shut it down for a few days to work on the stormwater pipes, which is considerably less dramatic than some thought.

Region Sheds 500 Jobs

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 14, 2008 in Business. 11 Comments

Our area has lost five hundred jobs in the past year, Brian McNeill writes in today’s Daily Progress. That decline of 0.5% is the worst of any of the state’s nine largest metropolitan areas. What the Progress doesn’t tell us is where these 500 jobs disappeared from, since there have been no major layoffs in the area. Small-scale job losses have recently occurred, or are soon coming, from LexisNexis, Circuit City, and Luck Stone, but that’s a) not part of these numbers and b) just a drop in the bucket.

9pm Update: I’m a moron. McNeill wrote: “The Charlottesville region’s lost jobs over the past year were primarily in the construction and manufacturing industries.” It makes sense that this area, a part of the growth boom (especially Fluvanna), would fall particularly hard as the bubble collapsed.

Danielson, Minor Can’t Agree on Whether They’re Building a Hotel

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 13, 2008 in Business and Development. 13 Comments

Things have gotten strange between Lee Danielson and Halsey Minor over the Landmark Hotel, Brian McNeill writes in today’s Daily Progress. Minor says that the bank has pulled their funding and construction has stopped. Lee Danielson—and anybody walking the site by yesterday—says that, in fact, construction is ongoing. Both Danielson and the bank say that there’s no funding problem. When asked what to make of Minor’s comments, Danielson told McNeill “I suggest you Google him and see what else he’s gotten up to.” And when Minor was asked about Danielson’s comments, Minor said “He can go and do his thing—I’m just not going to engage.”

What is it about Lee Danielson that causes his business partners to flee from him? (I can guess.)

11/14 Update: Will Goldsmith writes in C-Ville that Minor says that he’s canned Danielson. Danielson has no public response, and the job manager says that while money was a problem, it’s resolved now.

Second 64 Shooter Sentenced

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 10, 2008 in Law and Justice. Closed

Route 64 shooter Slade Allen Woodson has been sentenced to two years in prison, Tony Gonzalez reports in the Waynesboro News Virginian. Woodson was the brains behind the operation, to use the term “brains” generously; the younger of the duo was sentenced in July. The two were arrested one day after their shooting spree on 64, west of town. The only damage was to property, though two people were slightly injured by broken glass.

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