CITY OF RICHMOND

EDU FAQ #005: What’s the reasoning behind closing schools?
Emotions ran high over the now-famous proposal to close Armstrong High School and three elementary schools, as well as transfer one elementary school to a vacant building. The proposal–lacking transparency about the reasons for each selection, and in all reality, a political game of chicken between RPS and City Council–had parents and teachers scared and angry. Because of the way this announcement was rolled out to the school board and the community, a lot of misinformation about the impact and effectiveness of school closings has swirled around. The major concerns all surround impact on student learning and the actual amount of overall savings. Teachers are worried about layoffs and parents are worried about sending their kids to under-achieving, deteriorating, and overcrowded schools. A lot goes into a decision to close schools, and these announcements aren’t made lightly.

Correspondent of the Day: Combine bike-sharing and Pulse programs

The map of Richmond’s proposed bike share program shows that the locations of the bike share docks will be in the most affluent, most young-professional-dense, and frankly most white areas of town. Such inequitable distribution has been an unfortunate hallmark of the nation’s bike share programs. Let’s do something different in Richmond. We have a terrific opportunity to introduce the bike share program in conjunction with our forthcoming bus rapid transit system, the Pulse. What if the GRTC partnered with the city to introduce the bike share system? Bikes could be marketed as Pulse Bikes and styled in the prominent neon green and blue which will adorn the buses. There could be bike docks at each stop along the route of the Pulse, in addition to strategically and equitably located docks around town with the intention of expanding the reach of the Pulse.

City still hasn’t completed state-mandated financial report
The Richmond City Audit Committee is pressing for answers after learning city leaders still haven’t completed a state-mandated financial report. It’s a big problem for budgeting; city finance leaders admitted that until that report is turned over, the City doesn’t have accurate finance data to give anyone. The City is more than five months late with the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). It’s the same report the city fell 11 months behind on last year. 8News also learned there is a 2014 single audit that has yet to be completed.

Richmond officials: Don’t expect grass mowing in medians, parks anytime soon

Grass in medians and parks around Richmond is approaching a foot tall and higher, and city officials are telling residents they should not expect it to be cut anytime soon. “We’re woefully behind,” said deputy chief administrator John Buturla, citing budget cuts that will be in effect until the new fiscal year starts in July. “We ask people to be patient. Between now and July 1, we’re really going to be in a critical situation.” A schedule distributed by the Department of Public Works this week says most medians will be cut only once this mowing season and most parks will be cut only twice. That’s an estimated 112 days and 84 days between cuts, respectively.

Richmond settles federal discrimination suit over code enforcement for mobile homes

Richmond officials did not admit wrongdoing but agreed to change how employees monitor mobile home parks as part of a settlement with residents who say they were hurt by the city’s “illegal and racially discriminatory” code enforcement policy. The terms announced Tuesday follow months of mediation and years of uncertainty for dozens of residents of Mobile Towne Mobile Home Park and Rudd’s Trailer Park along Jefferson Davis Highway. Those communities were subjected to sweeping code enforcement efforts that city officials maintain were necessary for health and welfare. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say they had a disproportionate impact on Richmond’s Latino community.

Shuttered tobacco plant on Jefferson Davis Highway slated for $29 million overhaul

Shockoe Slip. Manchester. Scott’s Addition. Jefferson Davis Highway. Within 10 to 15 years, developer Tom Wilkinson with Richmond-based Maramjen Investments hopes the industrial stretch of the South Richmond slice of U.S. 1 will become the latest hotbed of revitalization in a city with a fixed footprint and waning growth options. To that end, his sights are set on the shuttered American Tobacco plant at 800 Jefferson Davis Highway, sandwiched between a city of Richmond public utilities office and the former Model Tobacco building.

Richmond City Council finalizes budget after dozens of speakers press for more schools funding

The Richmond City Council voted unanimously Friday evening to approve a $717 million spending plan that provides a modest boost in funding for city schools, a flat real estate tax rate, and a slate of fee increases for city services. The vote formalizes the budget compromise that the council reached last week following 12 hours of debate over two days. Funding for schools has dominated discussion of the budget, and the public hearing ahead of Friday’s vote was no exception.

CHESTERFIELD

Chesterfield School Board to debate land transfers

The Chesterfield County School Board today will consider transferring control of a land parcel previously eyed for school construction back to the county for the creation of a regional park southeast of Winterpock and Beach roads. The transfer of a nine-acre property by Salem Church Middle School to expand the county’s fairgrounds is also on the board’s agenda. Chesterfield County — not the school division — owns all real property for both the county government and the school division. The School Board maintains management and control of all school buildings and property designated for school use.

Chesterfield School Board transfers property for county park, second parcel

The Chesterfield County School Board on Tuesday unanimously approved transferring control of two parcels of land from the division back to the county. A 50-acre property at 13501 Beach Road, acquired by the county in a 2001 zoning case and initially designated for new school construction, is set to merge with a larger lot to become part of a 240-acre regional park planned for the area southeast of Winterpock and Beach roads. The School Board also handed a 9-acre property by Salem Church Middle School back to the county for a planned expansion of the county fairgrounds.

County considers options as clock ticks on cash proffers

Chesterfield’s cash proffer policy is unlikely to remain in effect beyond July 1, but that doesn’t mean the local government will no longer be able to regulate residential development in the county. The county’s ability to collect cash proffers has been significantly curtailed by a new state law that overwhelmingly passed both houses of the General Assembly and was signed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe earlier this year. Cash proffers are fees that localities collect from developers to offset the impact of new residential projects on public infrastructure, such as roads, schools, fire stations, parks and libraries.

HANOVER

Interstate study ranks Hanover County number four in Virginia for best property tax value

A study conducted by the New York financial technology company SmartAsset ranked Hanover County number four for best property tax value in Virginia for 2016. Hanover has risen on this list from its number six ranking in 2015. SmartAsset has approximately 130 different data partnerships that allow access to crime rates, school rankings and property taxes for each county in every state. Their team of data scientists analyzes and compiles the information into a county ranking system. This in-depth study ranks schools from 1-10 based on each district’s average math and reading/language arts proficiencies in each county. The ratio of school rank to property and violent crimes per 100,000 residents per county give each county a community score.

Hanover to weigh measures on keeping of chickens, bees in residential areas

The Hanover Board of Supervisors will consider a measure that could expand the scope of keeping chickens in the county. The proposed ordinance that would permit chickens in residential neighborhoods will go in front of the panel at its meeting tonight. The chicken ordinance would allow residents to keep six hens in the backyards of single-family homes, according to a draft of the measure. The ordinance would mandate that the chickens be kept in enclosed coops at least 15 feet from side and rear lot lines.

POWHATAN

Board passes real estate tax rate, CIP

The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors last week approved in a split vote a 90 cent fiscal year 2017 real estate tax rate that, while level, is effectively a five cent increase to help fund about $54.5 million worth of capital improvement program (CIP) bonded projects they budgeted and appropriated the same night. During the board’s meeting on Monday, May 2, the supervisors voted three-two in favor of approving the real estate tax rate at 90 cents; approving an FY 2017 operating budget net of transfers of $78,819,047, which was an increase of 6.2 percent from the current fiscal year, and budgeting and appropriating $54.5 million worth of bonded projects in the FY 2017 Five-Year CIP.

STATE/REGIONAL

State revenue estimates drop 6.7% in April, lag annual forecasts

State revenues fell 6.7 percent in April compared with the same month a year ago, raising concerns about whether the state would meet its forecast for tax collections in the fiscal year that will end June 30. Total revenues have risen 1.3 percent for the first 10 months of the fiscal year, compared with an annual forecast of 3.2 percent “It’s going to be highly unlikely that we meet our revenue projections,” said House Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, who is most concerned about sluggish growth in income taxes collected through payroll withholding — almost two-thirds of state revenues.

ELECTIONS

Coleman Out
School Board Vice Chairman Don Coleman said in an interview Monday afternoon he would not seek reelection in the East End-anchored 7^thdistrict this upcoming November. Coleman, 55, was elected to the board in 2008. He served as vice chairman in 2013, then chairman from January 2014 through the end of last year, and now as vice chairman again. “I just really feel strongly that Richmond is heading in the right direction. I want to be apart of that, but I don’t think being a school board member is going to be the best opportunity to do that based on my stage in life,” Coleman said. “I believe overall as a board, as a team, we’ve done a great job to get us to this point.”

Agelasto faces challenge for 5^th District seat on Richmond City Council

A two-way race is shaping up in Richmond’s 5th District, which includes Carytown, parts of the Fan, Randolph and Woodland Heights. First-term City Councilman Parker C. Agelasto intends to run for re-election to the seat. He will face Montigue Magruder, a caretaker in an assisted-living facility, who has filed paperwork to get his name on the ballot in November.

Garrett wins GOP nomination in 5^th Congressional District

State Sen. Thomas A. Garrett Jr., R-Buckingham, won an interparty endurance contest Saturday for the Republican nomination in the 5th Congressional District. The decision came Saturday evening after a three-ballot battle of attrition starting at 11 a.m. Charlottesville-area technology executive Michael Del Rosso was the last to fall at the convention at Nelson County High School, where 856 district Republicans elected their nominee to face former Albemarle County Board of Supervisors member Jane Dittmar, a Democrat.