CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) – Charlottesville City Council is poised to approve a one-cent real estate tax rate increase later this week, after deciding to reduce the originally proposed two-cent hike.
While Sam Sanders originally suggested that two cents – bringing the rate up to $1.00 per $100 of assessed value – was necessary to balance the roughly $279 million budget, Mayor Juandiego Wade tells 29News that months of emails, public comment, and Council work sessions drove them to cut that amount in half.
“We heard from them, and they said that this was going to be a burden on them,” Wade said. “Yet, we still had needs that we had to address…We feel like this will allow us to reach our goals, but still understanding that we need to do better.”
29News asked Wade what they shifted in the budget process in order to make the one-cent increase work.
“There some strategies and strategic plans that we wanted to do, and we were able to address those, but the revenue forecast was a little bit more positive than we had anticipated,” Wade said. “We’re looking at some cost-sharing savings…so everything, looking at all those pots of money, we were able to realize that we were able to get by with one cent. And we’re happy with that, because we understand that affordability is a big issue now.”
On Monday night, Council held its second public hearing on the proposed budget and tax rate change, marking the final step in the public input process. The first public hearing was held on March 16, though only one person spoke during the open comment period.
Sanders has told Council throughout the process that the real estate tax rate increase is needed primarily to support the growth of collective bargaining, as well as expanded spending in schools and public transportation. The increased tax rate comes as residential property assessments are up by roughly 4% in the City in 2026.
Only a few people spoke during Monday night’s hearing, including former Mayor Nikuyah Walker, who criticized Council for planning to raise the tax rate without expanding the Charlottesville Homeowner Assistance Program.
“The increases over the past few years, even with CHAP, are still unaffordable,” Walker told Council. “There are homeowners who may have been middle-income who are going to be priced out of the City, too…a lot of low-income families are being pushed out, and middle-income families are struggling.”
Richard Spurzem, with Neighborhood Properties in Charlottesville (an apartment and home rental company), also cautioned against continuing to raise the tax rate.
“The future of Charlottesville depends on investment, and investors are looking at what the City does, and it looks at the tax rates in comparison to other localities that they can invest their money at, and you should cautiously look at raising the tax rates,” Spurzem told Council.
On Thursday, Council will convene for a special meeting to approve the final budget and tax rate change. Wade tells 29News he’s “99.9%” confident that Council will pass the proposed budget with the one-cent increase. That would bring real estate taxes up to 99-cents per $100 dollars of assessed value.
“I feel like at this point, there should not be any more discussion,” Wade said. “If everything goes according to plan, [the meeting] should be about five or six minutes, because we’ve had all those inputs. If anything changes now, we would not have time to re-advertise and meet all of those state-required guidelines>”
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