CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – As Charlottesville’s City Council prepares to consider a resolution to place a 1% sales tax hike referendum on the November ballot, Deputy Director of Public Works Michael Goddard presented it with eight potential capital improvement projects for public schools that the additional tax revenue could fund.

These projects include a renovation and new addition to Charlottesville High School, the construction of a new school at Jackson-Via Elementary and a number of other renovations upgrades across five other elementary schools — Greenbrier, Summit, Trailblazer, Sunrise and Tall Oaks — as well as CATEC.

The presentation was made during Wednesday afternoon’s City Council work session, which included Charlottesville School Board Chair Lisa Torres and Vice Chair Amanda Burns, as well as other city and school officials.

Goddard told Cville Right Now afterward the tax hike could have a “huge” impact on CCS’ facilities.

“I think you could take care of somewhere on the order of half of what I presented as sort of the ideal … renovation project timeline,” he said.

The eight presented projects would be in addition to the recently completed Charlottesville Middle School project and the Charlottesville Early Learning Center, which is currently in the design process.

The city has already committed $149 million for the CMS and CELC projects. The eight proposed projects are projected to cost an additional $395 million in total.

Goddard, who has been with the city for 10 years, said many of these projects have been discussed for the majority of his time with the city, even before it began putting more funding into major school projects like CMS and the CELC.

“We’ve started to spend a lot more money on those kind of bigger capital projects for the schools,” he said. “But we’ve been kind of building the program, at least on the conceptual level, for all the time I’ve been here.”

The 1% sales tax referendum was included in the Virginia budget, and City Council has is slated to consider a resolution to put it on the ballot at its July 20 meeting.

The tax increase would need to be approved by voters and would raises funds for capital improvement projects for public schools, including construction and major renovations.

Based on previous tax revenue and the parameters of the legislation, Budget Director Krisy Hammill said the tax increase is projected to bring in approximately $12 million in additional sales tax revenue.

Depending on the debt coverage the city selects, that $12 million could add up to as much as $125 million in debt issuance for the city.

This means that if the city were to sell $125 million work of bonds with interest, the decreased debt payments would give the city, over the course of 20 years, $55 million in revenue available for Paygo, resulting in a total cash flow of $180 million for projects.

Although the numbers projected on Wednesday are simply projections, the increase looks like it will add a significant boost to the city’s CIP projects, assuming the referendum is passed this November

In order for the referendum to be included in this upcoming Nov. 3 general election, the city, after adopting the resolution, must file a petition with the Charlottesville Circuit Court to place the referendum on the ballot.

The referendum will have to be ordered by the court 81 days before Nov. 3, giving the city a deadline of Aug. 14.

The City Council and School Board have also scheduled a joint meeting for two days before the deadline on Aug. 12.

If the referendum is passed in the General Election, the council will need to adopt an ordinance to adopt the tax. The tax would then take effect 120 days later.

During the work session, City Councilor Michael Payne expressed his support for the referendum, calling it “a long journey to get here.”

“Even with the sales tax, there’s going to be more needs than there exists capacity to meet those needs,” he said. “So, we might as well move forward with it.”