Some "Whatever Albemarle" Miscellany from a Cluttered Desktop — Earlysville, VA — (March 1

Just catching up here on posting some Albemarle County miscellany I wanted to share.

BIG Truck Speeding Statistics from the Albemarle County Police Department (ACPD):

Being curious about all the accusations and allegations about which vehicles and drivers are speeding on Earlysville Road between Woodlands Road (at the reservoir) and Rio Mills Road (near the airport), I decided to ask ACPD for some actual evidence. Here’s what was provided to me:

• ACPD stopped 51 vehicles between Woodlands Road and Dickerson Road over the past 18 months to March 1, 2016 (Dickerson Road is about a quarter mile north of Rio Mills Road at the airport’s southern traffic circle);

• 45 summonses were issued;

• 12 summonses were for speeding;

• 0 summonses for speeding were issued to truckers;

• for 5 years from 2011-2015, ACPD issued 5 traffic summonses for commercial motor vehicle violations (none of which were for bad driving behavior).

Practice Two-Minute Drills to Prepare for Albemarle Supervisors Public Hearings:

Albemarle County residents may want to practice Two-Minute Drills for their public comment purposes in front of the six Democrats on the Board of Supervisors (BOS). Once again this past Wednesday, March 9, speakers for the Public Hearing on possible truck restrictions on Earlysville Road had their individual speaking time cut from three minutes apiece to two minutes each. This was announced just seconds before the first speaker had to step to the podium. The Board had to listen to 19 speakers for a total of 38 minutes. Such a burden on the Supervisors’ backsides and eardrums! Meanwhile several Supervisors and staff spoke at much greater length multiple times about the Earlysville Road issue that White Hall Supervisor Ann Mallek said has been plaguing residents along this road for 15-18 years. Meanwhile, if you had hung in there to the end of the meeting like I did, you would have been treated to a half hour discussion on what form the Board’s agenda item summaries should take. At least 19 minutes of that governmental gabfest could easily have been taken care of via memo between Supervisors and staff — and the time savings safely delivered to public speakers on Earlysville Road trucking.

Watch this Sunday’s Daily Progress for publication of the legal advertisement of what the BOS proposed tax rate increase could cost you after July 1, 2016.

The state-required advertisement will show that the Albemarle's effective tax rate increase will be 4.07 percent. (Individual increases can vary.) Albemarle’s current tax rate on real estate is 81.9¢ per $100 of value. To have held us harmless on taxes, the BOS would have had to lower the tax rate to 81.1¢. Instead, they will be advertising raising it to as high as 84.4¢. Of course, the amount of the tax check we actually have to write, sign, and send in is what spells out the true pain. That’s because the rate alone doesn’t tell the full financial impact until you multiply it times the reassessed value of your real estate property. The difference between the current 81.9¢ tax rate and 84.4¢ is 3 percent. Your individual reassessment is a separate number (could be higher, lower, or the same as the previous year). Calculate your reassessment percentage increase (mine was 1.2%) and then figure out what that next tax check could be that you’ll be writing. And, renters, pay attention as well. When landlords have to pay more taxes, guess from whom they are going to get that money.

Basketball versus Albemarle TAX INCREA$E Town Hall in Crozet:

Supervisor Ann Mallek (D, White Hall) scheduled an Albemarle TAX INCREA$E Town Hall for 8 p.m. last night at the Field School in Crozet. I’m wondering how well she did on attendance competing with the 7-9 p.m. UVA vs. Georgia Tech men’s basketball tournament game on TV. Her meeting in Earlysville on Monday night, March 7 — with no ACC hoops fans competition — attracted 6 people.