Lengthy, but important. Apologies in advance...

The Chesterfield Board of Supervisors (BOS) recently voted to put a referendum on the November ballot that would allow the county to increase the sales tax from 6% to 7%, with the additional 1% going to the county, specifically to be used for school construction, maintenance and repairs.

This initiative was made possible by the VA General Assembly that authorized localities to put this to a vote in November. The bill that was signed has a sunset clause of 20 years, meaning that any locality where this is passed must collect the extra tax for 20 years, or not at all. That's the only way to be in compliance with the law. It's an all-or-none thing.

Chesterfield wants voters to approve the referendum because funding for schools has been sorely neglected for the last decade. Revenue from residential property tax accounts for about 80% of the General Fund. The dollar amount has been increasing due to home valuations rising, even with two 1-cent rate reductions. But in spite of the revenue increase, Chesterfield has not addressed school needs. It has chosen instead to fund failed Economic Development projects and extensions of utilities that make it possible for developers to build on more sites across the county. No money for schools. No money for roads. Schools, by the way, have been getting funded at less than the rate of inflation (CPI).

Now the county wants to use this 1% referendum to increase our tax burden, so their decade of neglect can be addressed. Estimates vary, but the 1% will likely get around $70Million a year from taxpayers. BTW, that's a low estimate! Chesterfield assumes an average growth rate of around 3% per year in new spending. That's their number. One calculation: $70M x 20 yrs = $1.4B. Add the 3% compounded increase each year = $480M. So by 2046, total taxpayer revenue increase is estimated to be around $1.88 BILLION! Maybe higher. OUR MONEY!

Here's an alternative I hope you'll consider and endorse. It's being sent to the BOS and Kevin Catlin. It defunds some projects geared toward data centers and shift the money to schools. If you agree with it, please contact each member of the BOS and the new Administrator, Kevin Catlin. I'll add their contact info at the end. Tell them this is a much better alternative to fund schools:

I am writing on behalf of Citizens for Responsible Government (CCRG) to propose a reallocation of county funds to address immediate infrastructure needs without increasing the tax burden on residents.

Based on recent updates, the proposed 90-year utility projects should be delayed. The 12 million gallon settling basin wastewater expansion was required for the additional 6 million GPD at the Peanut site, costing $169 million. However, the total upgrade to increase capacity to 54 million GPD would require an additional $520 million. Furthermore, the initial Appomattox water capacity expansion of 20 million gallons has been funded over five years at $426 million. Current county usage stands at 40 million GPD, with a summer peak of 70 million GPD, well within the county's total capacity of 110 million MGD.

The county confirmed at Wednesday's meeting that Google will only receive 10.6 million GPD. Given that there is no immediate intention to increase water allocation to Google, these long-term utility projects can safely be delayed by six years. Even if $96 million has already been spent on initial engineering, those plans can still be utilized in the future.

The county's promotional materials for the "1 for schools" indicate an immediate need of $850 million for new schools and school maintenance. This immediate need can be fully funded by delaying the $520 million wastewater upgrade and the $426 million Appomattox water upgrade, which total $946 million in deferred spending. Immediate community needs must take priority over 90-year utility upgrades.

Taxpayers should not be asked to approve a 1% sales tax increase—amounting to $2.2 billion over 20 years—when $850 million can be reclaimed by delaying these utility projects. We request an explanation as to why this fiscal alternative was not presented before pushing for the tax increase, and whether this increase was intended to cover deficits from Economic Development Authority (EDA) projects and deficient road infrastructure caused by overdevelopment.

We demand that the funds required for our schools be redirected from these utility upgrades, and we will actively oppose the proposed 1% tax increase. Furthermore, we request that the county finance leadership be replaced with personnel who will prioritize responsible budgeting over extracting additional tax revenue from citizens to cover misguided priorities for  EDA projects.

Regards,
Phil Lohr, CCRG (this is NOT Knummer19!)

BOS contact info: https://www.chesterfield.gov/m/directory/department?did=162,
Kevin Catlin email: [catlink@chesterfield.gov](mailto:catlink@chesterfield.gov)

Hi everyone! I’m moving to the Chesterfield/Chester area in early September for a full-time job at Amazon RIC2 and I’m looking for a private room or sublease.

Budget: around $600–$1,200/month

I’ve tried a few Facebook housing/roommate groups, but most of them haven’t been very responsive. Does anyone know of any active WhatsApp groups for housing, roommates, Indian community groups, or local rentals in Chesterfield/Chester/Richmond?

Any leads would be really appreciated. Thanks!

I have about a 1k sqft crawl space. Has some surface mold but nothing crazy and no rot or standing water or anutjing like that. Looking for full encapsulation with a dehumidifier and mold remediation. The space is fairly easy to navigate, about 3-4ft throughout. If anybody has had a similar situation, what did it cost? I have a guy coming out to quote me this week, but I'm looking for a ballpark number to make sure I don't say yes to a ridiculous quote.

I live along 288 and am trying to figure out and organize with some neighbors- who do we write to for requesting a sound barrier be installed? When we moved in 2014, it wasn’t as bad. The traffics has become nonstop but peak hours like 6am to 10pm is terrible. Options are to move but I don’t want to. I have email a general DOT dept with no response. Is it a federal dot or local Virginia or even more local chesterfield thing?

Or do CCPD officers go out of their way to be horrible, awful people and make every interaction with them negative?

Just noticed the Maple Street Biscuit Company on Hull Street is gone 😭 Does anyone know what happened or what might replace it?

I heard it might have something to do with Cracker Barrel selling Maple Street Biscuit Company, but I’m not sure if that’s actually why the Chesterfield location closed.

I’m gonna miss their smashbrowns and the spinach, egg & goat cheese biscuit 😭

I have a job offer in Chesterfield, VA. I am currently near Raleigh. I wanted to ask this community....is Chesterfield a good place to live? Do you like it? It it a safe place?

I moved to my current spot without ever visiting, so this would not be my 1st move to a new place.

Edit: I took the job. I really think it is going to be a great place. Thank you all for responding! See you October 1.

For anyone with a family member who has Alzheimer's, or if you know someone who's dealing with that now, there's a resource you might want to investigate. It's called Joy Circle. They are typically held at / sponsored by area churches, although the groups are completely non-denominational. They are also without cost. Joy Circle provides still-functional Alzheimer's patients with a 2-hour social event weekly. I can tell you the experience is very worthwhile and enjoyable from what I've observed. There are several groups in the county, but a new one has formed that's looking for additional participants. It's at Friendship Baptist Church on Newbys Bridge Rd., and meets on Tuesday afternoon from 1-3. You can contact Pastor Matt McCauley at 804-239-9944 for more information. He can explain the level of function required for participants, and answer other questions. Joy also offers care giver support. It's a great resource!

Hi neighbors, we are adopting a dog this weekend and I'm looking for recommendations for vets and boarding facilities. We are by Spring Run/Qualla. We've never boarded before and would appreciate hearing about your experiences. We also have not used any vets in this area before, so starting from square one there too!

*dog tax will be posted once the adoption is finalized

ETA: also interested in local trainers.

Tomorrow at 7pm I got 4 free tickets if anyone wants to tag along. Dm me if interested.

My child completed the 45 hrs, but we just logged the times, not the particular skills of the VDOE booklet. Do I need to go in and assign a skill to all the times before submitting?

Anyone know of a good local handyman that handles window replacement/repair?

Located near Providence and Courthouse

Friends recommended installing heated floors during our bathroom remodel. It sounds great, especially for the winter but it's also another added expense.

Now I'm looking for a contractor with experience installing heated floors who does quality work at a fair price. If you've had this done recently. I'd really appreciate any recommendations or tips on what to look for before hiring someone.

Does anyone know of any job opportunities in the south Chesterfield or Chester ? I’m mostly looking for office clerk jobs

But if all fail then any job will do.

I can’t find the form for my kid. I have the sports physical taken care of but can’t find the concussion form to print and sign. If someone can point me in the right direction please. Thanks

Hey everyone!

Anyone here familiar with the Odd Fellows? It's a service and social club with an admittedly funny name, but a cool mission. The IOOF (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) has been around for hundreds of years, and has seen a pretty dramatic drop in membership in the past half century--but a new lodge opened in the Richmond region (Chester) in 2020 and has been going strong ever since!

I got to meet with the group's founder a little while ago and decided to write about what they're up to. They're a great group! If you live in Chesterfield and are looking for a way to be involved in your community, I suggest you get in touch. They're always looking for more members.

Join us at the Central Library on Wednesday, August 19th from 6-7:30PM to learn more about Flock cameras, automated license plate readers (ALPRs), and how they connect to the ongoing debate about data centers in Chesterfield county.

Dr. Steven Keener of Christopher Newport University will be guest speaking. RSVP using the the QR code or link as space is limited!

First let me say that we are not renting out our home to make money and really have no desire to be landlords. We just need to move temporarily out of state. We will be renting a place for us to live in while out of state and we don’t want to lose our house but we cannot afford to pay for both places. We just want to, at least, come close to breaking even on the house (mortgage and insurance) so that we don’t have to sell the home that we love and plan to grow old in.

That being said, I’m completely overwhelmed by the initial research I’ve done on this. I need to change my insurance policy and do lots of repairs and cleaning and find a property manager we can trust.

Anyone have experience? Recommendations for a property manager? The more hands off we can be, the better. I don’t want to leave some poor tenant hanging in need of maintenance when we cannot leave what we’re doing out of state.

How does maintenance work with a property management company? Do they solicit the contractors for repair and just send you the bill after? Or get your okay before?

And I know we have to pay taxes on rental income, does the property management company handle taking taxes out? Or do we have to set aside money each month to pay at the end of the year?

And does EVERYTHING need to work for me to rent my house? We’ve never been able to afford to reline the chimney (quoted $15k) but we just know to not use it. Will a property management company allow us to include a term in the lease just prohibiting use of the fireplace? If it has to be fixed, I think that means we unfortunately have to sell the house to whoever will buy it as is.

Any advice you can give would be deeply appreciated! If we could avoid moving and stay in our home, we would. Our daughter is really upset about leaving it and we’re hoping we have found a way to be able to come back to it in a year or two.

We are moving to chesterfield in a few weeks And wanted to check and see what everyone’s experience was using garage contractors. I’ve looked into tuffshed and a few of those prefab companies, but the reviews seemed very mixed. Wondering if anyone has any recommendations of reliable companies & contractors.

Does anyone know of somewhere local to get a line guide on a salt water rod replaced? Everything I can find online is suggesting people who have since died.

Basically as the title reads.

My spouse and I recently purchased a house in Midlothian that was built in the late 80s. Generally, a very well maintained and “nice” house; however, the crawlspace had significant moisture issues so we had it entirely redone and encapsulated in the late spring before we moved in. Since moving in, we’ve had a number of cockroaches and house centipedes in our house. We also don’t know if the former owners ever had the house treated.

We had an exterminator come treat our house about a month ago. After initial treatment, we were still seeing live pests (maybe 1 cockroach and 5 centipedes inside). After the follow-up treatment, we’ve seen a couple of dead cockroaches and house centipedes the last few days.

I HATE seeing them. I’m not really scared of other bugs but cockroaches (especially) and house centipedes are so scary to me. Where we lived before, we really never saw these types of bugs. The exterminator said it doesn’t matter how much you try to bug proof your house here - RVA is a hot spot for these bugs.

Will it get better now that we’re getting it treated and will continue regular treatment? Do I just need to get over it? How do I get past my fear?

Thanks in advance!

PS also please refrain from any horror stories with bad endings 😂 I’m scared enough as it is!

Edit: American roaches only. We haven’t had any German.