The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors is in the midst of budget season, with a draft budget of $642,386,163. To balance the budget for fiscal year 2026, the county has proposed increases to its real property and personal property taxes.
Under the current FY26 budget, the real property tax (also known as the real estate tax) would increase by 4 cents to a rate of $0.894 per $100. The 4-cent increase is further broken down in the budget proposal, with revenue allocations of 3.2 cents to public safety, 0.4 cents to public schools, and 0.4 cents to affordable housing initiatives. A portion of the public safety funding is slated for retaining 57 firefighters, hired through FEMA grants, which would maintain continuity of service.
On the personal property side, Albemarle County plans to return to its pre-pandemic rate of $4.28 per $100, an increase of 32 cents.
The FY26 budget proposal projects property taxes will account for approximately 51 percent of total revenues.
Like the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle’s largest area of spending for FY26 is education. Roughly 47 percent of the county’s total budget is allocated for school operations, and an additional 4 percent for school capital. Other areas of significant spending include public safety, health, and welfare, and transfers to capital and debt.
Despite the $209,302,695 ongoing and $6,219,994 one-time contributions to the school fund, the municipality’s proposed contribution still leaves the district with a budget deficit. Albemarle County Public Schools has reworked its budget to an approximately $700,000 deficit, down from the original $5 million shortfall.
Several service reductions were needed to get closer to a balanced budget, with furniture replacement and elementary schools’ foreign language programs both eliminated entirely. The modified ACPS budget also cuts 10 full-time instructional coach positions.
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors’ next budget work session is March 19. Public hearings on the proposed budget and tax rates will be held on April 23 and April 30, respectively.
County supervisors have proposed raising residents’ real estate and personal property taxes. Supplied photo.
