Friends and colleagues remember Jay Stegmaier
VACo remembers Jay Stegmaier as a kind and inspirational leader. Jay was always eager to teach many of our educational sessions, especially those that focused on finance and leadership. He was a friend to many VACo members and will be dearly missed. Chesterfield County posted the message below on its Facebook page. Chesterfield mourns the […]
INTRODUCING A NEW PREMIER PARTNER – Blue Line Solutions
Blue Line Solutions’ TrueBlue Highway Safety Program in School Zones and Construction Zones is not about revenue generation. Their photo speed enforcement public safety program is a data driven, solutions approach that includes public information and education throughout the life of the program and a 30-day initial warning period in new programs before citations are issued. This short […]
Visit Smyth County and the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail
Located in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail is a 68-mile trail between Elk Garden and VA Rt. 94. It features mountainous terrain, valley views and valley crossings. The trail includes parking and primitive camping for those who trailer horses. SOURCE: VisitSmythCountyVa.com
INTRODUCING A NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBER – AIA Virginia
AIA Virginia Hosts First Community Dinner Since Pandemic On September 29th, AIA Virginia held its “Blueprint for Better Communities” Dinner in Norfolk. Created in 2019, this initiative is centered on a simple concept of bringing together architects and community influencers over a private dinner to discuss how we can work together to pursue the city’s […]
cashVest – Year in Review: 2021
By Joe Rulison | Jan 11, 2022 It is our pleasure to share with you all of the topics we covered in 2021 with our partners across the country. The links below highlight the great work of our clients across the nation who contend with the same challenges that you do everyday. We had […]
Bills would impose restrictions on local budget process
HB 1010 (Durant) and SB 620 (Cosgrove) would impose new restrictions on the local budget process by requiring a referendum if growth in real estate assessments would generate more than 101 percent of the previous year’s collections and the locality did not reduce the tax rate accordingly. VACo is opposed to this legislation. Under current […]
School Construction Local Authority Financing Bill Advances
On January 19, by a vote of 14-2, the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee voted to report SB 472 (McClellan). VACo spoke in strong support of the measure, which would permit any county or city to impose an additional local sales and use tax of up to 1 percent, if initiated by a resolution of […]
VACo Supports Helpful Public Notice Bill in Committee Tomorrow at 9am
VACo supports HB 167 (Ransone), which provides that in any instance in which a locality has submitted a correct and timely notice of public hearing to a newspaper published or having general circulation in the locality and the newspaper fails to publish the notice or publishes it incorrectly, such locality shall be deemed to have […]
Bill Proposes Elimination of BPOL
HB 380 (Freitas) would prohibit any county, city, or town from imposing any license tax or fee in any taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2023, with the exception of coal and gas severance taxes that are levied as license taxes. VACo is opposed to the elimination of this local revenue source, which […]
VACo Supports Bill Removing Authority of State Air Board to Overturn Local Land Use Decisions
SB 81 (Stanley) fixes a quirk in state law (dating back to 1966) that effectively gives the Air Pollution Control Board the power to override local land use decisions (for example, when a Board of Supervisors approves the location a project through the granting of a Special Use Permit). The issue with existing law is […]
General Government Bills to Watch
Governmental Immunity HB 609 (Bourne) – This bill, which is very detrimental for localities, creates a civil cause of action for the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities pursuant to the constitutions and laws of the United States and the Commonwealth due to the acts or omissions of either a public employer or its […]
Finance Bills Begin to be Heard
Both the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee and the House Finance Committee took up legislation on Wednesday, January 19. Of interest to local governments were the following bills: HB 199 (Webert) allows a locality to provide by ordinance that a parcel of real property that is part of a land use program may not be […]
Capitol Contact ALERT! Local Financing Authority for School Capital Construction to be Heard Tomorrow – Call Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Members to Support
SB 472 (McClellan) would permit any county or city to impose an additional local sales and use tax of up to 1 percent, if initiated by a resolution of the local governing body and approved by voters at a local referendum. The revenues of such local tax would be used solely for capital projects for […]
Legislation Would Restrict County Taxing Authority
HB 75 (Ware) would place restrictions on the additional taxing authority granted to counties in 2020. VACo opposes this legislation. The bill would generally place a cap of 5 percent on transient occupancy taxes imposed by counties and require revenues from rates between 2 and 5 percent to be dedicated to tourism. Under the 2020 […]
School Board Reversion of Unexpended Funds Bill Recommended to be Amended to Address Local Government Concerns
SB 276 (Stanley), as originally written, would permit any school board to finance school capital projects with any funds appropriated to it by the local governing body that are unexpended by the school board in any year. Currently, local governing bodies have discretion as to whether to permit local school boards to retain these funds. This […]
Helpful bills would assist with costs of housing state-responsible inmates in local and regional jails; please contact legislators to support
HB 989 (Runion) and SB 165 (Peake) would improve state support for state-responsible inmates being housed in local and regional jails. Currently, in addition to state support for jail staffing provided through the Compensation Board, the state provides a per-diem payment to assist with the costs of housing incarcerated individuals. These rates – $4 for […]