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.

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.

Cruise Drama at NBC-29

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 9, 2007 in General News. 79 Comments

A source who wishes to remain anonymous tells me:

Kristina Cruise found out this morning she will not be anchoring the 12N and 5P at WVIR anymore. Sharon Gregory will be taking her place on these shows and Laura French will be back next week to anchor the 6 and 11.

This was all, of course, done in the absolute worst fashion. Kristina’s distraught, Sharon’s stuck in the middle…and the fact that most of the newsroom knew this would happen months ago doesn’t make things any easier. To make matters worse, rumor has it they’re only telling her now because she shot a story for The Hook on friday about going head-to-head with Duffy.

But, wait, it gets even more scandalous. From a second source:

The Hook article is supposed to run on Thursday. WVIR managers found out about it and threw a fit. The writing on the wall is that Kristina will eventually be demoted to a reporter…. [M]anagement told her to leave the building today because she is suspended and not allowed back until they decide what to do about the whole mess.

Beth Duffy will be anchoring a pair of daily broadcasts over at the competition beginning on the 16th, though it’ll be the noon and 5pm broadcasts, oddly, and not the 6pm. When she left NBC-29, one of the chief reasons that she cited was a desire to stop working the crazy hours required for her to swing the morning shift. Gray wanted her because they knew she’d be a draw, siphoning off viewers from NBC-29 looking for a familiar face. But it seems odd that they’d put her up on the broadcasts while most people are at work, rather than at what I assume is the more widely-viewed 6pm.

All of this presumably leaves The Hook with a front-page article about a match-up between the two perky young white female anchors, a match-up that may well never happen.

9:25pm Update: I’d been wondering why Sharon Gregory would leave WZVN, in a large market in Florida (64th largest market) to move to a little station in Charlottesville (182nd). Turns out it was her DUI arrest that did it.

Seaman Announces Council Candidacy

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 9, 2007 in Politics. Closed

As expected, former school board chair and Charlottesville Area School Business Alliance executive director Linda Seaman announced her campaign for the City Council nomination, Brian Wheeler reports for Charlottesville Tomorrow. There are three primary planks to her platform: education, community, the environment. Charlottesville Tomorrow provides the video of her announcement:

You can find out more about Linda Seaman on her campaign website.

Sideblog