2.5 cents: Supes vote to advertise bumped-up property tax rate

For the second year in a row, Albemarle County’s property tax rate could go up. When County Executive Tom Foley presented his $371-million budget to the Board of Supervisors, he based it on increasing the property tax rate by one penny to 80.9 cents per $100 of assessed value. The board went 1.5 cents better, […]

City refuses to pay attorney fees in spycam case

A personnel appeals board gave Charlottesville Fire Department mechanic J.R. Harris the job back from which he was fired last October, along with back pay and benefits. The city declined, however, to cover the $16,000 he spent on attorney fees to get reinstated. Human Resources Director Galloway Beck said that’s because there’s no legal authority […]

Trapped: Birdwood threatens lawsuit over dangerous exit

The Birdwood neighborhood off the Route 250 Bypass bore the brunt of inconvenience during McIntire interchange construction, with backed-up traffic making it difficult to exit and no easy way to head west. Now the residents say traffic engineers’ refusal to reopen Birdwood Road has had them sliding down a steep and icy Hillcrest Road into […]

Alumnae fight back over planned closure of Sweet Briar College

A week after Sweet Briar’s board of directors announced plans to close the 114-year-old women’s college in Amherst, shock and grief among students, faculty and alumnae has given way to anger, defiance and questions about the basis for the decision. “I just think it was handled so badly,” said Sweet Briar biology professor Lincoln Brower, one […]

Proposed 13-cent tax on downtown properties is a no-go—for now

Plans for a downtown business district funded by a 13-cent tax on properties on and near the Downtown Mall have been put on hold after numerous property owners objected. But proponents of a Community Improvement District (CID), researched and proposed by a committee of Downtown Business Association (DBA) members, hope there’s still a future for […]

What makes tech take off?

In our first-ever Tech Issue, we’re taking a look at four relatively young startups whose founders chose to root them here. Their reasons for doing so are varied, and so are their ventures. But whether they’re in app development or designing cancer cures, they share an outlook we see again and again among local technology […]

Business entities sue VDOT over Rio interchange

The owners of Albemarle Square and a local Wendy’s have hired state Senator and former attorney general candidate Mark Obenshain to file a federal lawsuit against VDOT and Federal Highway Administration officials over the planned grade-separated interchange at Rio Road and Route 29. The suit, filed March 6, alleges that VDOT failed to get a […]