Charlottesville City Council member Kathy Galvin pushed Monday for Council to consider changing Charlottesville's status from a city to a town to decrease its financial obligations.
Should Charlottesville revert to town status, its financial obligations would be greatly reduced, as Albemarle County would be responsible for providing education, emergency services, the bulk of police protection and most other services, Albemarle County Supervisor Ken Boyd said.
"[Reversion] is one of many ideas that ... needs to be put on the table [to try to alleviate budget trouble]," Galvin said.
Galvin proposed the change in status in response to a bill proposed by Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, which would transfer $2.6 million in state funding from Charlottesville to Albemarle County, Vice Mayor Kristin Szakos said.
Galvin added that Charlottesville already had a $4 million gap to fill for its education budget and a $1.5 million to $2 million gap in its City budget.
She said Council should not be afraid of the possibility of reversion because the $2.6 million transfer would have a crippling effect on the City school system.
Boyd said a citizen's committee first proposed reversion in the 1990s but ultimately abandoned the idea after legal and consulting fees began to mount.
"We spent an awful lot of money on lawyers and consultants [when it was studied the first time]," he said. "We've been there, done that and decided not to do it a decade ago"
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