tom foley – C-VILLE Weekly

In brief: Payne, Ross outta here, Woodriff buying arena and more

Payne, Ross closing

When politicians need flack assistance stat, there’s one number they call: Payne, Ross and Associates. And around the beginning of the new year, Charlottesville’s public relations institution will close its doors after almost 35 years. “It’s a new vision,” says principal Susan Payne. Partner Lisa Ross Moorefield says the closing is a mutual decision, and she’ll be “exploring less structured options.”

Woodriff confirms arena deal

Hedge fund founder Jaffray Woodriff is buying the Main Street Arena, as previously reported by C-VILLE. Attorney Valerie Long says, “Our client is now the purchaser of the ice park for an entity he’s involved with.” His QIM firm is not involved in the deal, and he is not ready to talk about whether there will be an ice park in another location, says Long.

R.I.P. Sydney Blair

Beloved UVA creative writing prof Sydney Blair, 67, died unexpectedly December 12 after being hospitalized for pancreatitis. She joined the faculty in 1986, won the Virginia Prize for Fiction for her novel Buffalo in 1991 and wrote many stories, articles and reviews for journals.

Why it’s not paying for West Main

UVA generates $4.8 billion in economic activity in this region, according to a recent study. The university has been cool to city suggestions that it pitch in on the West Main streetscape project, saying it already significantly contributes to the local economy. UVA doesn’t pay Charlottesville property taxes.

Albemarle County Executive Tom Foley says the good news about an otherwise grim budget is that no one gets laid off and county employees get a raise. Staff photo — Tom Foley. Staff photo

County exec wanted

Albemarle’s Tom Foley is riding into the sunset, er, to Stafford County, to be head administrator there. Foley started in Albemarle in 1999, and succeeded Bob Tucker as county exec in 2011.

Day in the sun

“The sun is my almighty physician,” once said the ubiquitous Thomas Jefferson.

In a small room at UVA on December 6, packed wall-to-wall with people eager to celebrate the installation of 1,589 solar panels on university rooftops, President of Dominion Virginia Power Bob Blue said, “I’m not exactly sure what he meant by that.” But what he does know is that UVA is one of 10 groups participating in Dominion’s Solar Partnership Program, and once all the panels are installed atop Ruffner Hall and the University Bookstore, they will generate 364 kilowatts of energy—or enough to power 91 homes.

Bright future

965 panels, which could power the equivalent of 52 homes, are already installed
Students and Dominion will study the energy pumped back into UVA’s grid
The school’s 2008 Delta Force sustainability program reduced energy usage in 37 buildings, saving $22 million in energy costs so far

Steak of America

When Bank of America closes its branch doors downtown in February, it leaves a grand 1916 building in its wake that will house a steakhouse, according to building owner Hunter Craig. And while he declined to identify the grilled-meat purveyor, he did say it would be locally owned, not a national chain.

Also inhabiting 300 E. Main St., which began as Peoples Bank and during its 100-year history has morphed into Virginia National Bank, Sovran Bank and NationsBank before Bank of America, will be…another bank. “Not Virginia National Bank,” specified Craig, who sits on the VNB board of directors.

Other as-yet-undisclosed tenants will lease office space in the building.

Quote of the week

“Plaintiff threatens to set a dangerous precedent for news organizations and those who rely upon them for accurate up-to-the-minute news throughout the country.”—Brief filed by eight news organizations in support of Rolling Stone’s motion to overturn Nicole Eramo’s $3 million judgment

Correction 12/19: Sydney Blair’s age and date of death were both wrong in the original version.

Budget bummer: Albemarle boosts tax rate while treading water

“We can’t tax our way out of this,” said Albemarle County Executive Tom Foley—while proposing a 2.5-cent property tax hike in the fiscal year 2017 budget he submitted to the Board of Supervisors February 19. Even worse, he says, that increase barely maintains existing services, and he predicts another will be needed next year.

The culprits for the county’s grim economic outlook: a sluggish housing market and a growing service-demanding population, according to Foley. However, a former supe suggests the problem may lie with the board itself.

Foley’s proposed $375.2 million budget, barely .1 percent more than last year’s, suffers from a lag in the county’s largest source of revenue, property taxes, which make up about 60 percent of Albemarle’s income.

While there has been recovery from the housing bubble crash, county property assessments fell short of projected 2.25 percent increases, rising only 1.84 percent, he says.

The proposed tax hike would put the rate at 84.4 cents per $100 of assessed value. The tax rate has increased 7.7 cents over the past four years to support essential services, according to Foley. “We are struggling to keep up with existing levels of services,” he says.

The budget includes no new positions, expands no existing services and offers no new programs, he says, comparing it to the recession gloom of 2009.

At the same time revenue is stagnant, the county is looking at a significant increase in mandates, he says. The Children’s Services Act eats up $1.7 million, and the county faces increases in its obligations to the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, Jaunt and the Emergency Communications Center.

And while there will be no new hires, existing employees will get a 2 percent raise to keep them at market pay.

Holding the line on expenditures is a consistent theme throughout the budget, which, as Foley notes, makes it difficult to address Board of Supervisors’ and community aspirations.

He proposes a two-year fiscal plan starting in 2018, because the county already is facing a $3 million deficit next year. “The reality is a tax increase is going to be needed in 2018,” he says.

Other options include a $150,000 efficiency study and consolidation of services within the county and with the city.

But those alone will not free up enough resources without eliminating programs and services, he warns.

Former supervisor Ken Boyd sees the problem less in terms of reduced revenues and more a free-spending board, which added services two years ago that are now “skyrocketing,” he says. “That’s what’s driving it,” he says of the revenue dilemma.

He’s not surprised by the proposed real estate tax increase. “The county executive serves at the pleasure of the board, and we’ve got a board determined to spend a lot of taxpayer money,” he says. “They made a lot of decisions outside of the budget process,” such as adding people and capital projects.

Boyd also points out the cost of “lost opportunity,” citing last year’s decision to not expand the growth area enough to entice Deschutes Brewery, which would have brought tax revenues and jobs.

“That certainly would be better than increasing the tax rate for those on fixed incomes,” he says. “I would like to have someone stand up and say, ‘Cut expenditures rather than increase taxes.’”

The county’s first public hearing is tonight at 6pm in the County Office Building.