At a news conference yesterday, County Executive Bob Tucker outlined his proposed budget, which is down 7.8 percent from last year largely because of declining revenues. It increases the number of frozen positions to 50.
The average Albemarle County homeowner will pay a higher tax bill if the budget goes through. It proposes raising the current rate of 71.5 cents per $100 of assessed value to 76.7 cents.
Tucker balanced the budget using a tax rate of 74.2 cents, which is roughly the amount that would keep average county tax bills the same under the new, lower assessments, but he tacked on 2.5 cents at the behest of the Board of Supervisors in order to set aside money in case the downturn worsens.
City Manager Gary O’Connell had more fun unveiling his budget yesterday, which is reduced only 0.9 percent from last year, with most reductions coming in the capital budget. The budget proposes permanently losing about 14 full-time positions, all of them currently unfilled.
O’Connell proposes that the city tax rate remain at 95 cents. Average assessments went up slightly in the city this year.
Helping to balance the city budget—and deepen the hole in the county’s—is $18 million transferred to Charlottesville from Albemarle under the revenue sharing agreement.