CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A deadlocked Albemarle County Board of Supervisors isn’t likely to be moving forward with a proposed 15-cent raise in the personal property tax rate, more commonly known as the car tax.

During Wednesday night’s meeting and fourth final public hearing on the advertised rate and next fiscal year budget, supervisors were split 3-3 on the raise, which had been planned to support the county’s affordable housing investment fund.

Instead, supervisors will recommend an alternative source for the $2 million in funding it wants to direct toward AFI fund.

“We all agree with helping with affordable housing, however, I don’t think the way to do that it is through a tax,” supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley told Cville Right Now on Thursday. “It’s a regressive tax and it does harm the ones we want to help.”

LaPisto-Kirtley, Fred Missel and Ann Mallek opposed the proposed raise. Chairperson Ned Gallaway, Mike Pruitt and Sally Duncan said they supported it

“It was a really tricky conversation,” Missel said during an appearance on WINA Morning News on Thursday.

The actual vote on the county budget will occur Wednesday, but LaPisto-Kirtley said the tax raise is dead.

“Regarding whether or not there will be a tax increase, that’s signed sealed and delivered that it won’t happen,” she said.

Missel had initially supported the rate hike, but said subsequent evaluations and considerations of the current economic climate led him to change his stance. With rising gas prices, higher property assessments and other factors, Missel worried raising the tax rate would function as a “regressive tax.”

“It was really just the snowball effect of all the additional costs that are moving forward,” Missel said. “The additional costs that we’re all seeing in the market.”

Much of the conversation Wednesday dealt with finding another way to pay for the affordable housing investment fund. The board considered transferring less money to the economic development fund and to using ongoing reserves, Missel said.

County spokesperson Abbey Stumpf told Cville Right Now a motion to have county staff come up with a plan to fund the AFI fund and disperse the remaining money to community partners passed unanimously.

“At the end of the day, what ultimately happed was they took $1.15 mill from that economic fund and then monies from those contingencies and reserves,” Stumpf said. “The motion that got passed was for staff to move that money.”

Missel said of the $2.3 million that motion freed up, $2 million will be used for the AHI fund.

Albemarle County Republican Committee chairperson Phil Riese lauded the board’s position.

“Residents across Albemarle made their voices heard, and it mattered,” Riese said in a statement sent to Cville Right Now. “People showed up to town halls, contacted their supervisors, and spoke directly at Board of Supervisors meetings. That level of engagement helped stop the car tax increase that would have raised the cost of a basic necessity for thousands of families.
“This is a great example of local government working the way it should. When citizens speak up and elected officials listen, better decisions get made. We’re grateful to the three supervisors who stood with residents and voted to keep Albemarle more affordable.”