Charlottesville City Council and school board discuss construction plans proposal

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Charlottesville City Council and the Charlottesville City School Board are meeting Wednesday, August 12, to discuss school construction projects and which plans could move forward if voters approve a sales tax increase in November.

The proposed tax would generate roughly $12 million per year, and that money could only be used for school construction.

The school division has already identified several projects it wants to fund through the measure. City Council Member Lloyd Snook said many of the city’s school buildings are overdue for major work.

“We’ve got a lot of renovation needs. A lot of our schools haven’t been majorly renovated in 50 years,” Snook said. “We have this ability to do it through the sales tax. One of the advantages of the sales tax is about half of our sales tax gets paid for by people who aren’t city residents.”

In previous council meetings, Snook has said the state does not supply enough money for school construction, making it important for localities to contribute their own funding.

The joint meeting also included an update to the school division’s current budget. Charlottesville City Schools is requesting that City Council release approximately $1.84 million from the city’s School Operations Contingency fund.

The contingency was established during the city’s budget adoption process, when $2 million of the school division’s appropriation request was held pending finalization of the state budget.

City Council tabled the budget vote to December.

Council is also considering a resolution to appropriate $234,000 to the citywide reserve and approve the use of up to $206,993.23 for repayment of local match funds to the Department of Justice for the Charlottesville/Albemarle Family Drug Court as part of the FY 2026-2027 budget amendment.

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