Category: Government Finance
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Senator Lucas’ “Big Gamble”
by Kayla Owen Virginia state Senator and Chair of the powerful Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, Louise Lucas, is known for her love of casinos, skill games, and other gambling enterprises. Her greatest political gamble may be unfolding before our eyes this week. When Virginia’s biennial 2024-2026 budget was signed on May 13, 2024, just…
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Defending Jon Baliles: An Answer to the Lost Cause of Dick Hall-Sizemore
by Paul Goldman Does Bacon’s Rebellion recognize the validity of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States? I’m not sure and here’s why. Had Dick Hall-Sizemore written his response to Jon Baliles’ column, “Bonding With (or Against) the People,” prior to the Civil War, he would have caught Jon with his constitutional…
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An Answer for Jon Baliles: It’s the Constitution
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Shame on Jon Baliles for not knowing why cities and counties are treated differently in the Code of Virginia regarding the issuance of general obligation debt. The answer is simple; the state constitution requires the different treatment. Article VII, section 10, of the state constitution deals with the issuing of debt by…
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Bonding With (or Against) the People
by Jon Baliles There has been a lot of activity across the region recently about bond ratings and localities issuing bonds. It is a timely comparison of priorities of local leaders, a glimpse of a possible future and what happens if you have people in charge who worry more about getting the big, shiny project…
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Bond Rating and Back Slapping
by Jon Baliles Mayor Levar Stoney reportedly pulled a back muscle two weeks ago from slapping himself on the back after he announced the city received a AAA bond rating from the Fitch Rating Agency. It is the first time the city has ever received the designation, although the other two main rating agencies, S&P…
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The Cost of DEI? That’s the Easy Part.
by Dick Hall-Sizemore This whole argument over the cost of DEI at UVa. is a tempest in a teapot in budget terms. Even if one accepts the inflated figure of $20 million put forth by Open the Books, that is less than one percent of UVa.’s adopted budget of $2.40 billion for the academic division…
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Up, Up, and Away
by James A. Bacon Brace yourselves for another blast of UVA-centric articles, Baconoids and Baconauts. The University of Virginia Board of Visitors meets this week, and I’ll be covering the deliberations. If you’re not interested in all things Wahoo, this might be a good time to take a vacation. On the other hand, if you…
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Lack of Credit, RVA Edition
by Jon Baliles City Hall has spent the last few months trying to fix the meals tax fiasco where they were charging restaurants thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in penalties and interest which accrued that the restaurants never knew about and about which the city never made any attempt to contact them, so…
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Greasing the Skids for the Budget
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Virginia General Assembly can be efficient when it puts its mind to it. Consider the 2024 Special Session that convened on Monday. The House convened at noon and adjourned at 3:15. The Senate stayed around a little bit longer. It convened at noon and adjourned at 3:51. (Technically, both houses actually…
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No Need to Call the Budget Bluff
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Youngkin and General Assembly leaders have reached a deal on the budget for the next biennium. Based on press reports, it is difficult to say who won this battle. That’s the hallmark of a compromise. The process started off in December with the governor saying the state had more than enough…
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Parking Decks, Debt, & Trap Doors
by Jon Baliles On Wednesday afternoon at 3:00pm in City Council chambers, City Council will vote and approve the plan presented by the Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) to allow Richmond to issue $170 million in bonds to pay for the new baseball stadium on ten acres that will be surrounded by about 57…
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Fairness + Accountability = Thriving City
by Jon Baliles The city of Richmond seems to be trying to plug all of the holes in its boat, also known as the U.S.S. Meals Tax Fiasco, that has been taking on water for months. It seems that the city is finally wiping out the erroneous meals tax payments and interest they had charged…
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Freebees Aren’t Free
by Kerry Dougherty I can’t be the only Virginia Beach taxpayer sick of watching my real estate taxes climb every year while the city council wastes money on pricey gimmicks like “free” Tesla rides for residents and visitors to the city. For two years we’ve picked up the tab for a small fleet of Teslas…
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The Budget Do-Over: A Game of Chicken?
by Jock Yellott Speaking off-the-cuff at a Charlottesville/Albemarle Bar Association lunch on April 18, 2024, Senator Creigh Deeds offered some pointed remarks about Governor Youngkin. The Governor and the General Assembly had just the day before agreed to scrap the budget and the Governor’s proposed amendments and start over from scratch in May, averting a…
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State Legislatures Control Budgets — Virginia’s More Than Most
by David J. Toscano For over a month, Virginia’s legislature and governor have been embroiled in a “two scorpions in a bottle” fight over the new biennial budget, which must be passed by June 30, 2024, to fund the government. Last Wednesday, each of them loosened the cork in the carafe. After Assembly-initiated discussions with…