CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Louisa County’s Board of Supervisors Monday night removed an agenda item from its consideration that would have allowed a referendum on a 1% sales tax hike for school construction and maintenance projects enabled under the Virginia budget.

Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams made the motion to pass the evening’s agenda with that item stricken, which was seconded by Patrick Henry Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes, and the new agenda was passed unanimously by the Board.

There was no discussion.

“I just want to say I appreciate that,” said the lone citizen who commented about the issue in the public comment period. “Whether discussions amongst yourselves or with your constituents or in closed session evidently we came to that ain’t such a good idea. Considering all the potential tax revenue that might be coming in, the county doesn’t need another avenue to stick our hands down the pocket of the citizens, so I just want to appreciate you all for pulling that.”

Cville Right Now has reached out to determine if the Board plans to schedule the issue for another meeting, or to not consider it at all.

The Board back in April reduced the personal property tax by 15 cents citing revenue from data centers, with the possibility of reducing it further and possibly extending real estate tax rebates to property owners in the future.

Louisa is planning for a fifth elementary school as well as a new Career and Technical Education Center to locate at the high school as well as a middle school expansion.

Madison County’s Board of Supervisors at July 7 special meeting unanimously approved a referendum for up to a 1% school sales tax which voters would decide in November.

Supervisors Vice Chair James Jewett was the only one who spoke, and said there’s a lot of information to get to voters before ballots are cast.

“I think it’s unfair to taxpayers, I think it’s unfair to school students, not to be transparent with this and to do an objective analysis without a predetermined conclusion,” said Jewett. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”

He noted the revenue projection for schools from this tax would be $1.2 to $1.3 million, and 20-to-25 percent of the sales tax would be paid by nonresidents, but he said there needs to be further analysis to get precise numbers.

“I think along those lines, a tangent to that is, it really gives impetus to our economic development program, in getting more things and business along Route 29,” said Jewett. “Working with RSA to get extended sewer and water out there, we have a couple of business who want to come in out there but can’t because we don’t have any services.”

Whether or not voters approve the sales tax, Jewett spoke of one ongoing positivity.

“This is really an example of home rule versus Dillon rule, this is unusual for our General Assembly to give localities the ability to raise their own taxes or make their own decisions, usually they’re trying to take it in the other direction,” Jewett said. “So I think it’s a good thing, and hopefully it will whet localities’ appetites to lobby the General Assembly for more home rule actions in the future.”

They’ve been doing capital upgrades instead of building new schools on athletics, safety, accessibility, and HVAC upgrades as well as general maintenance.

Charlottesville City Council and the School Board will meet in a Wednesday 4 p.m. work session covering the city school facilities construction program.

Councilors and board members will hear a presentation on the financial and portfolio assessment of the schools’ capital projects currently underway and those planned for the future.

That will also include a sales tax referendum discussion on what is projected in the agenda item to be able to raise approximately $15 million toward school projects.

Some of the ongoing projects in the presentation includes a Summit Elementary window replacement, Sunrise Elementary roof replacement, and Greenbrier Elementary bathroom renovation.

There’s also the work this summer on the Walker Elementary temporary pre-K center that will be replaced by an all-out Charlottesville Early Learning Center buildout at Walker.

There’s ongoing debt service of the new Charlottesville Middle School, with a ribbon-cutting on the final phase happening later this month, and a new major design project to upgrade Charlottesville High School for students who are feeding from the new CMS into the 1970s CHS facility.

“The potential revenue from this is not going to cover all of those projects, but it’s going to make a dent which is exciting,” City Councilor Natalie Oschrin told WINA Morning News Tuesday. “We’re still interpreting this so I don’t want to speak out of class about what it can be spent 0n with regards to new or ongoing construction or debt service, so that’s part of what the work session will be about, what we can allocate this go.”

Oschrin added the revenue “has a time limit. So, as soon as we activate it, we have a 20-year window to get stuff done, to earn revenue from it and spend it.”

“We want to make sure that if we go ahead this year, we’re ready to move on that so we don’t waste time,” she said.

City Council does not have the referendum yet on an agenda item, but its next meeting is July 20 where it’s possible it could appear.

Albemarle County does not have a Board of Supervisors agenda posted for its next meeting, but supervisors expect to take this issue up in their July 15 regular meeting.

The 1% tax sales tax hike could raise about $25 million toward schools’ capital projects, according to Albemarle County Schools spokesperson Jason Grant.

The county next fall will open ACE Academy Lambs Lane Center as well as Mountain View Upper Elementary School. A North Pointe area elementary school has also planned.

The School Board wants to put a new high school in the planning stages, which the Board of Supervisors has stood against saying that would break the county’s debt service limit.