The Charlottesville City Council will continue to plan its 2011 fiscal year budget throughout December and January, looking for ways to overcome obstacles raised by the current economic state. At Council's Nov.
[caption id="attachment_32036" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Council members discussed possible expenditures using the 2009 fiscal year budget surplus at last night's meeting.
The Republican Party had plenty to celebrate after the results for the Albemarle County elections came in last night, even though Democratic candidates won all City of Charlottesville races. Republican Duane Snow won the Board of Supervisors position for the Samuel Miller District with 44.81 percent of the vote, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections. "I know Snow.
[caption id="attachment_31591" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="City Council, pictured here earlier this year, discussed one resident's traffic safety concerns last night.
[caption id="attachment_30431" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Representatives from the Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population spoke at the Charlottesville City Council meeting last night.
The Charlottesville Republican Committee released its party platform at a press conference last Thursday with the theme "Empowering People ... Constraining Government." The move surprised some Democratic officials, as there is no Republican candidate running in November's City Council elections. Charlottesville Republican Committee Chairman Charles Weber explained that the committee's goal in releasing the platform was to encourage debate among Albemarle residents about important city topics and educate the public.
University President John T. Casteen, III announced this summer that he will retire Aug. 1 next year.
The Graduate Management Admission Council's 2009 survey of full-time master of business administration programs reported a 64 percent increase in applications from 2008, compared to the 80 percent increase seen from 2007 to 2008, said Sam Silverstein, manager of media and public affairs at GMAC. Although the raw number of applications increased, the percentage increase declined, he said.
The University and the University Medical Center have seen multiple cases of the H1N1 influenza virus - popularly known as swine flu - since May. The virus originally broke out among campers at University's summer enrichment program at the Education School, as well as during University programs for entering students, University spokesperson Carol Wood said. While it is "impossible to know how many campers contracted the flu ... our feeling was that it was minimal," Wood said. When children became infected with what is believed to be the swine flu during the end of the first session of summer enrichment camp, the sick campers were sent home and letters were sent to parents about the small outbreak, Wood said. When the next session began, Wood said the head of the camp met with all of the parents dropping off their children and reviewed protocols about what to do if their campers were not feeling well. In spite of the precautions, Woods said that she "did not think parents were surprised" by the swine flu occurrences, noting that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently downgraded the swine flu to a "seasonal flu." "I think they were glad to be communicated with in a timely basis," Wood said. The counselors also helped by making sure campers washed their hands and reported any flu-like symptoms, she said. She added that all the campers who experienced flu-like symptoms returned home and recovered. Other cases of swine flu affecting the University community during the summer included 12 University Health System employees who tested positive for H1N1, hospital spokesperson Sally Jones said. "With the exception of one case of transmission from one employee to another, all [hospital workers] contracted the virus out in the community," Jones said. The hospital required employees with the confirmed virus to stay home for seven days from the onset of symptoms.
Throughout the past few months, the City of Charlottesville has concentrated on drafting a budget that balances the need for increased and improved services with the realities of the current economic situation.After creating new public outreach programs, new environmental initiatives and a so-called rainy-day fund, Mayor Dave Norris said he is confident in the city?s ability to sustain its economic stability.?The last three and a half months, we have focused overwhelmingly on the budget, just trying to figure out how to put together a budget that will maintain basic services in a very difficult economic time,? he said.Vice Mayor Julian Taliaferro said the city did not have to cut any services or city employees when forming the budget plan and was still able to set aside $2.8 million for the economic downturn fund.?I suspect, that if you look anywhere else in the commonwealth it would be hard to find another area in Virginia that didn?t have to lay people off or cut services,? he said.Norris also noted that the city?s unemployment rate is still lower than the national average though it has doubled during the past year.Taliaferro said he was pleased with City Council?s efforts in creating a new budget plan, attributing the budget?s success to ?good financial management practices that have been utilized by both City Council and city staff.?Still, despite Taliaferro?s confidence in the city?s budget, he said he felt ?like next year may be worse.? Nevertheless, he remains hopeful.?I have dealt with the Charlottesville budget for 40 years and we have always come out okay and we will come out okay again,? he said.Looking at the many projects and initiatives Council hopes to see through this year, Norris, however, said he is optimistic even with the effects of the economic downturn.
