– City of Charlottesville School consolidation plan could mean tax hike – Daily Progress

The city School Board voted Thursday night to consolidate Walker and Buford, the first large-scale change approved for the city’s public school system since the current configuration went into effect in 1988. The change means the lone middle school would house the sixth through eighth grades, fifth grade would go into elementary schools and preschool classes would be in one centralized center.

What role, if any, should government have with respect to ensuring that our schools are high quality and are boons for economic development?

– I’m kind of shocked that there are no comments on this piece in the Daily Progress, Will city-county tensions hurt residents of both? The short answer is, “yes.”

– Nelson County property value reassessment process begins – 2011 is going to be an interesting (staggeringly-so) year for real estate assessments in Central Virginia. Property taxes provide the bulk of the budget for the respective school systems, and school systems’ quality directly impacts property values. (as discussed on RealCentralVA a few months ago)

The process of reassessing Nelson County property values for real estate tax purposes has begun again.

The Nelson County Board of Supervisors received an update last week from Matt Hickey, of Blue Ridge Mass Appraisal Co., a Staunton-based real estate appraisal and consultant company, on the progress of the reassessment.

The real estate tax in Nelson County is $.55 for every $100 of assessed value. Virginia law requires real estate be reassessed every six years and to equalize the value of properties to current real estate market conditions.

…

“Wintergreen and Stoney Creek are currently experiencing substantial decreases in values,” Hickey said. “The remainder of the county is also seeing a decrease in values. However, the level of decrease is minor in comparison to Wintergreen and Stoney Creek.”

– One day, we might have a solution to the water supply quandary. For now, Debate continues on costs and approach for long term water supply plan.

I’ve been saving this analogy for my clients, but I figured I’d share it here. The relationship between the City of Charlottesville and the County of Albemarle is akin to that of divorced parents who really kind of hate each other but are able to keep it together justenough to keep the kids fed. In this case, the kids are the citizens of Albemarle and Charlottesville.

Lastly, wanna buy a church in Northern Albemarle County? It has only one picture, but it’s an interesting listing …