The Louisa County Board of Supervisors will hold two important meetings tonight, one for VDOT’s secondary six-year plan starting at 4pm, and the second to include a public hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget. The second meeting will start for the public at 6pm.

The first meeting, scheduled to commence at 4:00 PM in the Louisa County Public Meeting Room, will focus on the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) Secondary Six-Year Plan. This session will offer an opportunity for the Board to dissect and discuss the intricacies of the SSYP, shaping the transportation landscape for the next six fiscal years.

Following this, the Board will transition into a second special meeting, set to commence at 6:00 PM and open to the public. This subsequent gathering will incorporate a crucial Public Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget. The proposed budget stands at a formidable $237.7 million for the upcoming fiscal year, underlining the significance of tonight’s deliberations.

Within the proposed budget lies a slate of level tax rates, meticulously crafted by the Board. These include a steady 72-cent per $100 of assessed value rate for real estate, maintaining the status quo since 2015, when the Board last adjusted it by four cents. Similarly, personal property tax rates, pegged at $2.43, have remained unchanged since 2016. For most business personal property, the proposed rate stands at $1.90.

The public is encouraged to read over the proposed budget here.

Here is what County Administrator Christian Goodwin says about the budget:

I hereby submit to the citizens of Louisa County a proposed financial plan for fiscal year 2025
(FY25). This plan focuses on necessary capital projects, planning for the future, and preserving
and improving critical services including public safety functions, human services functions and
the education of Louisa County children. Louisa’s citizens can be confident in their Board of
Supervisors’ capable financial leadership, as well as their commitment to meet present and
future needs in a fiscally responsible manner. The County maintains a focus on those services
which directly and positively impact Louisa’s citizens, businesses, and visitors.

Louisa County’s property values continue to increase and the County continues to experience
solid economic growth. According to the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for
Public Service, Louisa County from 2020 to 2023 has had a growth rate of 7.5%, which is the
third largest growth rate in Virginia. The James River Water Project, a collaborative effort
between Louisa and Fluvanna Counties, is still underway, and at full build out it will initially
serve the Zion and Ferncliff Growth Areas. With the exception of schools, this is the largest
capital project initiated in the County. The project will serve water needs for a projected 50
years and can ultimately serve all of the County’s growth areas.

The proposed budget allows Louisa’s real estate rate to remain at $0.72, residential personal
property rate to remain at $2.43 and business property rate to remain at $1.90 for FY25. These
rates are some of the lowest rates in the region and Louisa remains an excellent value from a
fiscal standpoint. Maintaining sufficient reserves is critical to meeting current obligations and
providing adequate contingency funds for future events, and this plan maintains unencumbered
fund balances of $12.9M even after funding $81.1M in capital improvement in FY24. Louisa
County provides excellent core public services, and this budget builds on those services,
including a step increase for teachers, 3% increase for county employees and a 4% increase for
school employees, and increased staffing and funding for our public health and safety efforts.

Several priorities were considered in the development of the FY2025 budget. These included:
keeping property tax rates at or below their current levels; attracting and retaining a capable
workforce; investing in needed capital projects and preparing for future capital projects; and
maintaining a structurally balanced budget that is financially sustainable in years to come.

In preparing this budget, departments and agencies were instructed to focus on providing
efficient, effective and economical services for our citizens, to preserve quality classroom
education while reducing expenditures where possible, while still planning for the future.
County Health insurance expense will remain flat for the upcoming year. The County will not see
an increase in rates during FY25. Much of the additional human services funding and some of
the education funding will be offset by state revenue. Department budgets were relatively flat,
other than increases for maintenance agreement costs, compensation and compression
increases, additional retirement costs, additional funding for six new full-time positions (all in
Public Health & Safety) and any increases approved by the Board during the current fiscal year.

The budget’s organization capitalizes on the County’s award-winning presentation format and
represents an effort to: increase the effectiveness of the presentation; make the documents more
user-friendly; and allow better comparative analysis between the budget and the
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.

Jen Bailey

Hi! I’m Jennifer Bailey and I partner with entrepreneurs who have massive ideas that could change the world. Most marketing is meaningless. Filled with empty promises, its only job is to bring in new traffic, new leads, and new customers. But I’ve drawn a line in the sand, and I’ve learned that marketing can do so much more than reach business goals and build profit. My methods give businesses the fire and soul they need to reach the right people, set the groundwork for sustainable relationships, and offer true value to the people on both the giving and receiving ends of marketing.

Read more about me here