The Charlottesville City Council initiated the adoption process of the 2018 fiscal year city budget on Monday after a public hearing and discussion on the matter. The budget is slated for adoption by the council April 11 once members have completed a final review and revision process of its terms.
The original 2018 budget was proposed at a previous city council meeting March 20 by City Manager Maurice Jones and revised by Council members during the past two weeks, resulting in a number of proposed amendments to the original draft.
Jones’ initial budget proposed $171,619,374 in expenditures while amendments by Council members increased the total to $171,657,127.
Among the amendments to Jones’ original budget were revenue increases in areas such as public safety, affordable housing, education, non-profit funding and community engagement.
In particular, the Council amended the budget to include additional funding to nonprofit and charity organizations in the Charlottesville community, including the Virginia Municipal League, Region Ten, the Bridge Ministry and African American Teaching Fellows.
Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy and Council member Kathy Galvin also individually proposed amendments to the budget which would create two new occupations within the city — a Black Youth Leadership Director and a “community engagement and efficient urban planning” position, respectively.
In response to public criticism of their amendments, Bellamy and Galvin said the positions would combat ongoing problems affecting the Charlottesville community.
“Not everyone is going to be happy with our decisions,” Bellamy said at the meeting. “The tradeoff is moving us where we need to be.”
Council member Bob Fenwick supported Bellamy’s proposed amendment, and said it’s important to have a budget plan which acknowledges all areas of Charlottesville.
“A balanced budget across the city is important [in order to] bring everybody across the city together,” Fenwick said. “It creates much more of a balance in the budget, that’s not just focused on West Main Street.”
Likewise, Galvin said there is a need to move forward in addressing the issues which low-income residents in Charlottesville face.
“Poverty in our schools is not going down,” Galvin said. “Until we have a major handle on that, we need every tool at our disposal to change that in order to try and alleviate in some small way, any extra costs we impose on our residents”
Mayor Mike Signer offered an optimistic view of the amended budget as a whole, citing its commitment to the progress of the Charlottesville community and the public good.
“There are a tremendous number of positive, progressive statements in the budget,” Signer said. “[It is] a very empathetic to public safety and non-profits and increased contributions to schools by $2 million … I think the public sees that it is very lean and progressive document.”
Before the meeting adjourned, Brian Daly, Director of Charlottesville Parks and Recreation, delivered a presentation on the progress of planning a trail use plan for the Ragged Mountain Natural Area.
The Ragged Mountain Natural Area trail project is an ongoing development of mostly separate bicycle and walking trails to be constructed around the Ragged Mountain Reservoir.
Daly emphasized the desire of the Parks and Recreation Department to move forward in the planning process of the trial quickly, and cited the necessity for conditions conducive to construction.
“We wanted to present our findings before our six month deadline [in June],” Daly said. “Ideally, construction should begin during the colder months of the year.”
In support of continued planning of the trail system, Council member Kristin Szakos advocated for a motion to officially approve its construction in order for it to begin within the desired timeframe of the Parks and Recreation Department. Szakos’ motion was seconded by Council member Fenwick and the vote was held.
“Time is of the essence for that reason [construction during colder months],” Szakos said. “I make a motion for the acceptance of the plan by Council and to authorize construction [of the trail].”
The Council voted 3-2 in favor of constructing the Ragged Mountain trails around the Charlottesville reservoir, with Council member Bob Fenwick and Bellamy voting in opposition to the resolution.
However, before the final vote occurred, Signer noted the ongoing legal conflict between the city and Albemarle County over trail uses. Back in December, the Council voted to allow cycling at Ragged Mountain. Although the city owns the property, the natural area is located in the county — and county officials have argued that their existing code prohibits cycling at the Ragged Mountain.
“We have been sensitive to the concerns of Albemarle County residents [in our discussion] … over legal ordinances,” Signer said. “I am in favor of a constructive legal resolution on ordinances.”
City Council will reconvene April 11 in order to officially adopt the amended 2018 budget although a budget work session, originally scheduled for Thursday, was cancelled due to general agreement among the members on the proposed changes.
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