Charlottesville & Albemarle have received top honors in the ‘Go Green Challenge’, a competition hosted by the Virginia Municipal League, designed to recognize areas which implement green practices.
Local governments earned ‘green points’ by instituting various policies and actions, covering everything from green buildings, energy efficiency, to land use innovation. »Read More
It’s never fun bringing bad news, but we’ve got problems right now. Things aren’t looking any better for our local economy. Sure, the downtown mall rebricking is complete and under-budget, but between unemployment rates, general business activity, a slow real estate market, mall vacancies and increases in welfare recipients, our recession looks like it’s getting worse, not better in the near term. I talk about each in detail after the break…
Starting April 1, a Federal excise tax will go into effect for most tobacco products. Here are some of the most relevant increases (full list here):
Ok, so the arguments for taxing things that harm society and people are pretty clear. It creates an economic deterrent; it pays for indirect and long-term costs borne by the government and creates an incentive for the companies in that industry to diversify into other non-taxed goods.
It seems to me that the 2400% increase in roll your own tobacco represents the result of lobbying efforts by big tobacco. This is total speculation, but most of the tax increase range from 50% to 200%. Why is there such a dramatic increase in roll your own tobacco? Do big tobacco companies not make high margin on the roll your own product? Can anyone explain?
Either way, this is a significant change in the price of tobacco, for better or worse. Will these new taxes change your consumption of tobacco?
[via the Hook] [pic from Chris Schroeder]
That’s right. According to the “news,” Charlottesville has “discovered” $3.6 million in unspent money. Given the hard economic times and the fact that Charlottesville faces a budget deficit in the near future, why would Charlottesville discover THREE POINT SIX MILLION DOLLARS? I can imagine the conversation:
City Accountant One: Bob, I was counting the city marbles and it looks like I miscounted over the last years.
City Accountant Two: Jim, oh that’s nonsense. What are we talking about here? Rounding errors?
City Accountant One: Well Jim, maybe I’m getting old, but I’ve double-entried everything and it looks like we are off by about THREE POINT SIX MILLION DOLLARS.
City Accountant Two: Heart Attack.
Seriously, how do you not know about $3.6 million?
Community leaders met today to update the public on the progress of the 50-year Community Water Supply Plan and to outline the findings of the initial underground survey work done in preparation for the construction of a larger Ragged Mountain dam. The plan, approved by the Boards of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA) and the Albemarle County Service Authority as well as the elected bodies of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and the City of Charlottesville City Council, calls for a dam to be built at the Ragged Mountain reservoir to replace two older dams to increase the area’s water capacity and meet future community needs.
The remaining major components of the plan include a new pipeline between the South Fork and Ragged Mountain reservoirs that will replace the aged Sugar Hollow Pipeline, rehabilitation or replacement of aged piping, pumping, and treatment systems, and expansions to water treatment capacity. The plan provides improved stream flows to area rivers, preserves 75,000 feet of stream with wide buffers in a permanent conservation easement, provides 200 acres of new forest and four acres of new wetlands, avoids impacts to endangered species and preserves habitat and enhances water quality for the Buck Mountain watershed.. As the public process evolved this plan was considered to be the most responsible solution to providing an adequate and healthful water supply to City and County residents for many decades to come and has subsequently been determined by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to be the most environmentally- friendly and practical option available.
Quick! Go buy some of those “no rate change” stamps! Tonight at midnight the price of a first-class stamp will increase from 41 cents to 42 cents. If you are reading this on Monday you are out of luck–your stamps are now 42 cents. Your government at work, lame. 
The IRS sux, but they are giving us money. Almost everyone qualified for the economic stimulus rebate. But when are they coming? Check this schedule to find out.
Stimulus Payment Schedule for Tax Returns
Received and Processed by April 15
| Direct Deposit Payments | |
| If the last two digits of your Social Security number are: | Your economic stimulus payment deposit should be sent to your bank account by: |
| 00 – 20 | May 2 |
| 21 – 75 | May 9 |
| 76 – 99 | May 16 |
| Paper Check | |
| If the last two digits of your Social Security number are: | Your check should be in the mail by: |
| 00 – 09 | May 16 |
| 10 – 18 | May 23 |
| 19 – 25 | May 30 |
| 26 – 38 | June 6 |
| 39 – 51 | June 13 |
| 52 – 63 | June 20 |
| 64 – 75 | June 27 |
| 76 – 87 | July 4 |
| 88 – 99 | July 11 |
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=180247,00.html
Good times are here, my friends. And none too soon, I’m starving. I’m gonna buy myself a shirt made of gold that says, “remember what W did for you”. What are you gonna spend your rebate on?
Yay! It’s finally here! Government Services Day on the DT Mall. Police will be dropping from the tops of buildings. Students will be yelling at each other about something or other under the Free Speech Monument. I’m talking about fire trucks, tours of the Paramount, prizes, giveaways and all kinds of good stuff! Even Mayor Dave Norris will be there. You can even talk to your local utilities about their current and upcoming projects.
If you’re down there around lunch time, you’ll probably see me.
Link for more details.
Check the weather and bring your rain coat, though. Have fun.
**Please read the update to this thread**
I recently stumbled upon a site by the name of Legistorm. If you go to the site, you will discover that does strive to be “transparency’s sidekick” as an informative resources about congressional staff salaries and many other things.
As a sister site to our recently reviewed Richmond Sunlight, you can find all sorts of crazy things on Legistorm. You can learn about salaries of congressmen and their assistants, you can learn about trips they took and you learn that most expenses are not itemized and, I quote, “good faith estimates.”
While the good faith estimates opens a whole can of worms, I was searching around and apparently, you can see all tax payer money that has sent politicians on trips to Charlottesville.
You can also see who invited the politicians and the reason for the event. Take for instance a trip on May 22nd, 2005 in which Senator Evan Bayh spoke at the UVa Law Graduation Ceremony. He charged taxpayers $821.41 for this trip.
Shouldn’t UVa have paid for his trip, not the federal government? It seems like a waste of money to me and somehow doesn’t seem right.
Check out the list for yourself. You can see taxpayers have given politicians almost $100,000 to come to Charlottesville since 2000. What do you think? Did you find anything else interesting on the site?
Important Update: LegiStorm chimes in and lets us know that this trip and many others were paid for by the sponsor… although it isn’t very clear on the site. Sorry for the mixup!
[pic]
Recently a Chicago contractor was awarded with a $58.5 million dollar contact to build a 46 acre facility for a “Joint-Use Intelligence Analysis Facility” slightly north of Charlottesville. The facility will house over 1,000 jobs and is expected to bring a total of 1,500 jobs to the area by its expected completion date in 2010.
The Daily Progress reports that the facility will be located slightly north of the CHO airport and across 29. This sounds great, but what about traffic? 29N traffic is already a nightmare.
[via Daily Progress][pic]
