Tag Archive for 'library'

Albemarle Sets 76.2¢ Real Estate Tax Rate

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 4, 2012 in Government and Taxes. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has voted on a 2¢ real estate tax increase, Carter Johnson reports for CBS-19, settling on the advertised rate of 76.2¢ per $100 of assessed value. The idea is to retain current revenues in real dollars, which requires an increased rate to offset decreased property values. It was a 5–1 vote, with Rivanna Supervisor Ken Boyd voting against it, saying that “we should give more back to the citizens.”

That 76.2¢ rate makes possible the construction of the Crozet Library, many years after it should have been built, and the board accepted a $5.8M bid from a Roanoke construction firm to do so. Construction starts in July. The board also voted against providing funding for increased rent costs for the Northside branch, Aaron Richardson writes for the Progress, despite that it was the county who negotiated that rent increase with the landlord. That leaves Jefferson-Madison Regional Library to figure out where to come up with $15,000 to make up the difference.

BOS Approves Bidding Out Crozet Library

Published by Waldo Jaquith on December 7, 2011 in In Brief. 5 Comments Tags: , , .

Albemarle will issue an RFP for a new Crozet library. I’ll believe it when I see it.  #

Crozet Library Loses Some of Their Space

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 28, 2011 in Development, Education and Government. 4 Comments Tags: .

Things just keep getting worse for the beleaguered Crozet library. The Board of Supervisors decided to build a replacement for the shoebox-sized library back in 2006, delayed it over and over again, and the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library finally threatened to close it entirely if they didn’t receive enough funding to keep it open. (JMRL won that political battle, getting the bit of funding that they needed from the BOS, allowing them to remain open, albeit for rather limited hours.) All this despite serving an area that has ballooned in population—they have over 10,000 visits monthly in the summer. Now comes word that the fire marshal has had to limit the building’s occupancy to fifty people, Ted Strong writes in the Progress today, and has ordered the removal of a bunch of stored materials. They’re not allowed to add more storage in the parking lot, so they’re going to have to haul things to and from the old Crozet Elementary School.

With a Board of Supervisors that’s been openly hostile to library funding, it’s tough to see when and how things will get better for the patrons of the Crozet library.

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