CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Two days after the Charlottesville City Manager proposed a 2-cent real estate tax raise, City Councilor Lloyd Snook said he has an alternative plan. Snook plans to propose using funds from the surplus of the 2026 budget.
“I think we need to relax at least for this year the policy that says we don’t take our last year’s budget surplus and apply it to a budget shortfall in the coming year,” Snook said during an appearance on the Schilling Show.
That rule prevented City Manager Sam Sanders from balancing the budget using the surplus.
Snook said the city’s always had the rule because a budget surplus should be viewed as a one-time thing occurrence than an ongoing source of revenue.
“But I think this year’s different for a whole lot of reasons, and so my suggestion is going to be that we take the $2.5-million shortfall out of that $10-million budget surplus, and then not raise the tax rate and move forward from there,” Snook.
Snook noted it’s been more than a decade since the city didn’t have some sort of large surplus.
“As long a property values are rising even a little bit, we will always have a little bit more real estate tax revenue than we’re currently budgeting for,” Snook said. “Because the fiscal year takes in not only the assessments that we have right now, but it’s also going to take in a reassessment for the second half of the fiscal year because the reassessment takes effect January 1, so the next June’s tax payment will likely be more than what we’re budgeting for.”
He said it’s not always apparent what that amount is going to be and it’s not something to be counted on, “but it’s highly likely that there will always be at least a little bit of a surplus.”
Sanders’ proposal would bring the city’s real estate tax rate to $1-per-$100 assessed, assessed values up this year an average 4.27% on residential properties, 2.14% commercial, and 3.42% combined.
Sanders addressed the surplus during his presentation to Council last Monday night.
He said there’s a $10-million surplus from the 2026 budget, and part of the $22-million from the year before.
“We’ve continued to have a surplus because the surplus we generated out of our last budget I’ve begged for us to hold onto those funds because we knew the Administration was changing in DC and we did not know what the volatility was going to bring to us, and I would venture to say we still don’t know,” he said. “We have started to use those funds as I came before you a couple of times this summer and came back and we spent a little over $6-million acquiring 2000 Holiday Drive.”
Sanders said, “I plan to come to you in the next meeting and spend a big chunk because there are a lot of things that still need to be addressed.”
Snook told The Schilling Show, “I’ve always looked at it as everything that government does is subject to the same cost-of-living pressures that all of us are experiencing, and what I’m looking for in terms of what the assessed value is and in terms of what the rate is, I’m really reluctant to raise the rate because that implies that we’re not making due with the same amount of a sort of cost-of-living adjustment that all our residents are having to deal with.”
