CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW)- The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the addition of a referendum to the November ballot to increase the sales tax rate by 1% to raise money for capital improvements to area schools.
The decision ultimately rests with county voters. They can strike down the measure or vote for it, sending it back to the Board to enact.
Supervisor Mike Pruitt detailed the conflict he had with the vote on WINA Morning News Thursday.
The Scottsville supervisor confessed that though he voted yes to put the referendum on the ballot, he may not personally vote for it on election day due to his hangups with the mechanism.
“Sales tax is one of the worst tools to do it with, it’s just the only tool the general assembly has given us,” he said.
Pruitt also said a description of every piece the measure’s technical data will be on the Nov. 3 ballot, the wording of which will be approved by the electoral board.
The Board has the authority under the referendum to levy the task for 20 years, though they are able to cut the tax at any time during the period.
“We, probably, would cut it before that, frankly.” Pruitt shared.
Supervisors may also release additional voter education materials ahead of the referendum.
Pruitt told Jay James that though Supervisors fought for the referendum, they cannot engage in advocacy for one ballot choice or the other, and he assured that no one would see County representatives using county resources with this goal in mind.
“Albemarle County is not going to knock on your door and say, ‘Have you considered voting yes on the referendum?'”
Also Wednesday, the Board elected to move forward with a proposal to utilize the Affordable Housing Investment Fund to help make housing more affordable for county employees. The measure was in response to the 2026 Human Services Needs Assessment, a report conducted every few years, according to Deputy County Executive Ann Wall, that helps inform future budgetary and financial decisions.
The proposal was first discussed June 18, using $840,000 in AHIF Funds to help employees whose household income is below 80% of the area medium income with down payments, and those whose income is 60% below the area medium income with rent payments.
There were two provisions added to the resolution since the previous meeting, establishing a review team consisting of representatives of the County’s Attorney’s Office, Human Resources, and Department of Finance & Budget to assess applications, and producing participation reports annually as to who is utilizing the program, to determine its effectiveness.
A pair of public hearing periods were also held on proposed updates to the County’s zoning code to better define regulations around issuing certificates of appropriateness, as well as providing the Virginia Department of Transportation with an easement to build a continuous green-T intersection at Rio Road East and Belvedere Boulevard, next to the Charlottesville Area Technical Education Center.
