County administrator proposes $115.1M FY26 budget, recommends 72' tax rate; supervisors approve several easements and development actions

The Fluvanna County administrator presented a proposed FY2026 county budget totaling $115,100,000 and recommended a real estate tax rate of $0.72 per $100 of assessed value. The administrator told the Board of Supervisors the county—s equalized rate calculated from the recent reassessment is $0.689 (68.9 cents) and that a 72-cent rate would represent a roughly 4.5% increase for the average homeowner.

The administrator said the proposal includes a 3% cost-of-living adjustment for county employees, estimated to cost about $496,000 net after expected state reimbursements for eligible positions. The proposed budget also includes $300,000 to fund a compensation study and a midyear salary adjustment ($50,000 and $250,000, respectively, in the administrator—s figures). The plan contains roughly $283,000 to cover most of a modeled health-insurance increase; staff later said a vendor notice the same day showed the actual Anthem/Local Choice increase will be about 6.4%, which the administrator said would reduce the budgeted exposure by roughly $75,000.

On staffing, the administrator said the FY26 proposal includes several new…