By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Monday, April 12, 2010
The Charlottesville
City
Council
has adopted a $140.75 million budget, a 1.19% reduction from
the
one adopted last year
. The real estate tax rate will remain the
same at 95 cents per $100 of assessed value. Council took the action at a
special meeting held Monday night. The operational budget for FY2011 is
$126,001,345, 0.77% less than that during the current year.
Real estate taxes make up the bulk of the budget , and they are projected to be down by 1.59% in the next fiscal year due to a decline in property assessments. Sales taxes are also projected to decrease by 5.56%.
At some point during the year, Council will have to determine where to make $624,000 of cuts to programs funded by the state. Governor Bob McDonnell balanced the budget by requiring localities to reduce spending, but gave cities and counties the flexibility to determine where to make the reductions.
Council adopted a $33.85 million capital improvement program (CIP) budget, twice as much as the $16.3 million CIP adopted for FY2010. The increase is due to the transfer of federal and state money being used to pay for
Meadowcreek Parkway interchange project
. Other funded projects in this year’s CIP include $1 million for the
Charlottesville Housing Fund
, $625,000 for the City’s contribution to the
Piedmont Family YMCA in McIntire Park
and $250,000 for storm-water initiatives. The city will spend $250,000 to acquire new parkland.
Both the budget and the CIP were slightly amended in the weeks since City Manager Gary O’Connell
unveiled the proposed budget in late February
.
A new dedicated fund for improving the city’s bicycle infrastructure will be created, with an initial funding of $50,000. That amount will be transferred from an account for citywide traffic improvements.
Council opted not to spend $110,000 to increase service on three bus routes operated by the
Charlottesville Area Transit
service. Instead, the money will either be allocated once a design charette on the future of the system is held, or will be allocated into Council’s pool of funding for “priority initiatives.”
Download resolution authorizing the FY2011 budget for more details
Council opted to allocate some of that money during the budget review process. The organization
People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry (PACEM)
received $10,000 in funding, and the Foothills Child Advocacy Center received $25,000. The police department received in additional $10,000 to help pay for overtime related to helping catch sexual predators people who use the internet to meet children.
Council also chose not to spend $200,000 in this year’s CIP to renovate the mall west of the
Charlottesville Ice Park
. Instead, that money will be allocated to the
Charlottesville Housing Fund
. In all, there will be $1.4 million placed in the fund this year because Council also opted to dedicate $200,000 in federal community development block grant (CDBG) for that purpose. The budget anticipates the receipt of $18,454,658 in
revenue sharing
funds from Albemarle County. Of this amount, $4.25 million goes to the CIP, $250,000 goes to a facilities repair fund $211,826 goes to an equipment replacement fund, and nearly $2.8 million goes into the economic downturn fund. The remaining $10,948,527 goes into Charlottesville’s operating budget.
