In cities and counties across Virginia, the midterm ballot asked whether the local sales tax should be raised by 1% to fund school construction projects. But voters were not convinced. Out of the 47 communities with the sales tax referendum on the ballot, 32 voted it down.
The City of Charlottesville was one of the few outliers, where the referendum passed with more than 71% of the vote.
“We are very excited for our city and our school district,” said Charlottesville School Board Member Chris Meyer. “We have a lot of old buildings that need to be updated, and this is going to be impactful for the youngest of our city as they grow up and go to our schools.”
The tax, which does not apply to groceries, personal hygiene products or prescription medications, is estimated to generate $12 million per year for the city. Charlottesville City Schools had identified four capital improvement projects that could use the funds: a new preschool, renovations to the high school and adding cafeterias to two elementary schools, Greenbriar and Jackson-Via.
Virginia is a “Dillon’s Rule” state, meaning local governments only have powers explicitly granted to them by the General Assembly. Before this election, only eight Virginia counties and the City of Danville had permission to levy this tax, though legislators had attempted to expand the option to the rest of the state for the last four consecutive years. Those proposals were vetoed by former-Gov. Glenn Youngkin. But this July, the General Assembly passed legislation making the 1% sales tax an option for every locality in the state. One local government after another voted to put the tax before voters on the midterm ballot.
Within Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Voter Guide coverage area, it was on the ballot in the City of Charlottesville and seven counties: Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Madison, Nelson, Orange and Prince Edward. Voters rejected it in Fluvanna, Greene, Madison, Nelson and Orange.
Advocates say it was a challenge to convince voters to raise taxes during an election where affordability was a key concern.
That was the case in Orange County, despite the tax creating a rare moment of cross-the-aisle consensus. About a week before the election, the county’s Republican and the Democratic committees joined together to issue a joint statement supporting the tax, which was estimated to bring in $5.6 million into the county schools annually.
“Both sides saw a real need,” said Sean Hughes, chair of the Orange County Republican Committee. Orange County Public School officials had identified more than $28 million worth of capital improvement projects across the school system, from cafeteria renovations to a massive septic system overhaul.
For Hughes, the appeal was that out-of-county visitors and tourists could also contribute to the tax base.
“That would allow us to spread the impact not only to Orange County residents but to folks that were traveling through,” he said.
“It was definitely designed to take advantage of the fact that we’re an agritouristic type county,” said George Zerphy, chair of the Orange County Democratic Committee. “But despite the best efforts of a lot of very conscientious people, I don’t think that that message resonated with a lot of people, and they just saw it as another tax.”
Orange County voters narrowly rejected the tax by 51%.
“The affordability issue just kind of trumped everything,” said Hughes.
In Nelson County, where 51% of voters rejected the referendum, Supervisor Jesse Rutherford said he’s not shocked by the results.
“Our constituents are screaming out, ‘We can’t afford more!'” said Rutherford. “That’s what those votes were for when they voted no.”
Rutherford said he does not plan on bringing it up to the Board of Supervisors again. But in other counties, the referendum may be back on the ballot as soon as next year.
“We’re not done trying to get this to pass,” said Kelly Greer, member of the Greene County School Board. “We’re allowed to have it on a future ballot and so that’s what we’re going to do.”
Facing rising population projections, Greene County expects it has to build a new elementary school within the next five to seven years, which Greer said could cost between $50 to $65 million. The tax was estimated to generate $3.1 million to $3.6 million per year. Fifty-three percent of Greene County voters rejected it.
“It’s understandable that people don’t want to have any taxes increased and I fully get that,” said Greer. “I think that the reality is that this is going to be a need that we have to deal with.”
She said that while the Greene County School Board is clarifying the details of how to proceed, it’s possible they could begin discussions to put it back on the ballot as soon as the next school board meeting.
In order to get it on the ballot again, the School Board must pass a resolution for the Board of Supervisors to vote on. If the Board of Supervisors approves the resolution, they then must petition the Circuit Court to place the referendum on the ballot. Voters could see it in the next general election or during a special election.
In Orange County, School Board member Darlene Dawson also expects the School Board will request to put it back on the ballot in 2027 as quoted in an article from the local substack Byrd Street. Charlottesville Tomorrow reached out to Dawson, but she did not respond in time for publication.
Orange County Superintendent Daniel Hornick said that if that’s the case, he thinks the school district has a stronger foundation from which to raise awareness about the tax for voters.
“Those efforts to be in the community, meeting people where they are, continuing to build on the foundation of trust — all of those efforts certainly aren’t wasted and they certainly will continue,” he said.
