Lynchburg City Council postpones budget reading, members discuss tax rates

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — On Tuesday, the Lynchburg City Council held a budget work session.

During the session, they touched on the cost of the new LPD headquarters, tax rates, police and school funding, federal funding, and budget adjustments.

Most councilmembers said they want to invest more in schools, while continuing to decrease debt.

One idea for bringing in revenue without hitting homeowners too hard came from Councilmember Chris Faraldi: to raise the fees on hotel stays, so folks from outside the city can help cover the costs.

“Why are we considering tax increases when we could talk about the fees from folks out of town?” Faraldi said.

His plan would be:

10% lodging tax$18 nightly lodging feeCut the real estate tax to $.76With the nightly fee, ensuring a sunset clause of a couple of years, where it would automatically cancel

The current proposed budget has the lodging fee set at $1.

Councilmember Sterling Wilder suggested perhaps a mix of a higher than equalized tax rate, combined with other revenue, like the hotel fees.

“Equalize tax rate to about 80 cents with a portion of lodging here. I want to go with something staff are comfortable with,” Wilder said.

They also want to start paying cash for projects.

“At some point, that needs to stop. Let’s go pay as you go. That’s the way we deal with consumer debt,” Vice Mayor Curt Diemer said.

The start of the meeting was a bit contentious between members over a sign displayed behind Councilman Misjuns.

Councilwoman Stephanie Reed said that the sign was unnecessary.

“I feel like it is starting this work session with a hostile tone. It is an attack on the city manager. It’s a direct attack on the budget he is presenting,” Reed said.

Misjuns fired back that his sign was factual.

“I just want to point out that facts are facts. This is the largest proposed tax increase since fiscal year 1998,” Misjuns said.

Mayor Larry Taylor had Misjuns replace that sign with one of a graph.

At the close of the meeting, Reed reiterated her need to protect the city manager.

“He has overstepped. We have staff who are only hanging on by a thread. I don’t know who has the joy of embarrassing people in front of their subordinates. I am going to defend our staff,” Reed said.

Wilder chimed in and said they all need to have respect for everyone.

“We need to have respect for our staff. I think we need to not get into the weeds, and this needs to be a discussion the city manager has with his staff. It becomes micro managing and I just don’t care for that,” Wilder said.

Misjuns said someone needs to hold staff accountable.

“I appreciate the passion and the emotion with which you try to defend the staff. We need to remain objective. Somebody has to hold staff accountable,” Misjuns said.

As far as other line items:

The new LPD Headquarters will cost about $50 million New Lynchburg Fire Department radios: $700,000

Councilwoman Timmer suggested finding other ways to make cuts, alternate revenue sources, and making sure they have clear priorities moving forward.

The first reading of the budget will now be done on May 27.

Lynchburg City Council postpones budget reading, members discuss tax rates

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