CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA -At a special meeting held April 8, 2019, Charlottesville City Council approved the FY 2020 budget, tax rate and vehicle tax relief programs.

City Council voted to:

• Establish the 2019 tax year Vehicle Tax Relief Percentage (1st of 1 reading)
• Set the Annual Tax Levy for 2019 (2nd of 2 readings)
• Approve the Annual Budget Appropriation for FY 2020 (2nd of 2 readings)

Total general fund expenditures in the FY 2020 budget are $188,863,920 and balanced to general fund revenues of the same amount. This represents a 5.08% increase from FY 2019. Council also approved a FY 2020 Capital Projects Fund budget of $35,400,151. City Schools will receive a local contribution of $57,366,623. In addition, City Schools will receive $1.25 million a year in an unallocated fund that the schools can use for priority capital improvement initiatives of their choice, over $1.9 million for general capital improvement dollars and HVAC replacement funds a year and $3 million in pre-construction funds for the schools reconfiguration project.

In the FY 2020 Adopted Budget, the Meals Tax rate will increase from 5% to 6% and the Transient Occupancy (Lodging) Tax rate will increase from 7% to 8%, both effective July 1, 2019.

Council's major themes in this year's budget include:

• Affordable Housing
• Investment Investment in City employees
• Strong Support for City Schools Preserving and Enhancing Quality Services,
• and Focus on organizational efficiencies, aligning with our Strategic Plan and Council Priorities

 Under the revenue sharing agreement of May 24, 1982, the sum of $14,199,607 will be received to the General Fund from the County of Albemarle. Of that amount, $6,968,323 shall be transferred to the Capital Projects Fund and $400,000 shall be transferred to the Facilities Repair Fund. Complete budget materials are available online at www.charlottesville.org/budget under FY 2020 Proposed Budget.