Albemarle County approves significantly smaller budget in face of revenue downturn

After some small adjustments, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors approved a $396.9 million budget for fiscal year 2021 on Thursday.

The budget is significantly smaller than the initial proposal in February due to revenue projection decreases because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The real estate tax rate will remain at 85.4 cents per $100 of assessed value.

A decrease of about $330,900 from a revised April proposal was due to updated school division revenue estimates and Albemarle’s contribution to Charlottesville Area Transit, among other items.

The fiscal year 2021 budget that was adopted is about $59.7 million smaller than the current-year budget, and almost $54 million shy of the plan County Executive Jeff Richardson proposed in February. The current year’s adopted capital and operations budget is $457 million, according to county documents, while the initial proposed budget for fiscal year 2021 was about $451 million.

Board Chairman Ned Gallaway thanked county staff for their work on the budget this year during the pandemic.

“This year, in the midst of the crisis that we’ve been dealing with, to have to go back rehash and re-go, the board is very appreciative of all the extra hours to get this budget re-set up, not just with the current fiscal year, but getting us prepared to take the vote [today] for next year,” he said.

Due to a decrease in projected revenue, the budget freezes hiring, removes staff raises and does not fund a plan to raise the county’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Funding for equipment, furniture and fleet replacement is proposed to be reduced by $1.2 million.

The budget does include 10 positions to provide daytime staff at the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department and the Pantops Public Safety Station.

Later Thursday evening, the school division also approved its budget of $193.7 million.

The budget is an almost 1% decrease in revenues and expenditures when compared with the current year’s adopted budget.

“Although this was not the budget that we had hoped for three months ago, I think that the team has done a great job and protecting our classrooms,” School Board member Kate Acuff said.

Source: www.dailyprogress.com