CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A proposed one-cent sales tax referendum is expected to be included in the Virginia budget, Sen. Creigh Deeds and Del. Katrina Callsen told Cville Right Now this week. The money raised from the tax would pay for capital improvements in public schools – construction and major renovations.

The tax would need to be voted on in each municipality during the November election.

“The sales tax referendum is going to be a part of the budget,” Deeds said. “We just have to get a budget done. The plan is for it to be part of the bill that passes. I can’t really speculate on what it’s going to look like, but that’s the plan.”

The General Assembly is expected to be called in for a special session in June to pass a budget. If they don’t pass a budget before July 1, Virginia could face a government shutdown.

While sources said there’s been no pushback against including the one-cent referendum in the budget, disagreements over data center regulation and taxes have complicated the budget process.

There is also concern about timing for getting the one-cent referendum on the ballot in time for November.

Callsen said she supports sending the ballot question to voters in November, asking them whether or not to approve the one-cent tax on retail purchases.

“I’m strongly supportive,” Callsen said. “It’s been the No. 1 priority for both the Albemarle County and Charlottesville school boards. It’s bipartisan. That’s the kind of legislation that makes me the most comfortable because it goes to the voters.”

A debate over whether or not the funds raised by the sales tax could be used to pay off previous school capital debts was part of the reason that a bill never made it through either the Senate or the House during the last General Assembly session.

Albemarle County and Charlottesville school board members have advocated for the referendum for years now. With the county school board considering building a fourth high school to combat overcrowding and future population growth, funding the one-cent tax could generate $26 million a year, Board of Supervisors member Bea LaPisto-Kirtley said in February.

“While no bills came out of the legislature, right now we have no budget,” Deputy Director/Director of Legislative Services with the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission David Blount told Cville Right Now. “It’s possible we may see something be included in the budget language.”

Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin had vetoed bills that would have allowed localities to run referendums authorizing the one-cent sales tax to fund school construction and renovation in each of the four years of his tenure.

When Democrats added 13 seats in the General Assembly and won the Governor’s mansion in November, hopes were high that the Commonwealth’s government would be in alignment. But Gov. Abigail Spanberger, finding flaws in many of the bills the GA passed, vetoed an unusually high number of them, including one Callsen patroned limiting ICE operations in courthouses, schools and hospitals, and one Deeds sponsored aimed at lower prescription drug prices.

Bills legalizing a retail cannabis market and extending collective bargaining to all state and local employees also died on the Governor’s desk.

Gov. Spanberger did sign a number of bills that followed through on campaign promises, including an assault weapon ban, a restriction on firearms on college campuses, paid family leave and bills aimed at lowering housing costs.