Good news for current and future owners of energy-efficient homes: The City of Charlottesville is working to cut you a deal on your real estate tax. Following in the footsteps of Roanoke, a subcommittee of the Citizen Committee on Environmental Sustainability is at work on a proposal that would offer a tax break to homeown-ers whose properties are rated as 30 percent more energy-efficient than the standards specified by the state building code. City Council has already given the committee the green light for the proposal and will decide upon the exact tax cut percentage once the draft is submitted. In the meantime, Council member Dave Norris informed us that Council members are studying up on the Roanoke model (that city’s green homeowners enjoy 10 percent off their real estate taxes).
 The road to efficiency is paved with the good intentions of a citizen committee, working to give you a tax break for your energy-efficient house. |
The incentive is “part of Charlottesville wanting to be a green city,” says John Semmelhack, member of the Citizen Committee and project manager for the Charlottesville Community Design Center. If you’d like to give your home an energy makeover, typical improvements are airsealing, adding insulation, and checking the ducts of central heating or cooling systems for leaks. After all, if the house is leaky, “you’re taking the air that you spent a lot of money to heat up and sending it right outside,” Semmelhack explained. So, while you may have to wait a little longer to benefit from the upcoming tax break, green renovations will save you money on energy bills right away. For more ideas, check out the U.S. Green Building Council’s “16 Ways to Green Your Current Home.”