Newsletter — March 2021

Happy Sunday, everyone!

I hope you have been enjoying the 65+ degree days of late. It is fantastic to see the weather turning as we also continue the country’s and our city’s rollout of vaccines. There are still miles to go before we sleep, as they say, but it’s heartening to imagine the live music soon-to-return.

Reviewing this past month, I have five things to highlight. Below are this month’s noteworthy items.

• Vaccine rollout — The “Greater Williamsburg Clinic,” held at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitors Center, administered 1,161 vaccines this past week, bringing our total to over 12,000 since operations began in January. Out Peninsula Health District remains in Phase 1B. The link above goes to the City’s Coronavirus Hub of information and is the best source of information on vaccinations in Williamsburg.
• Proposed real property tax increase — The creation of the FY2022 budget is a process, one that has not yet completed. One part of that process is considering long-term capital improvement projects. This year, the City Council has a proposed increase in the real property tax rate in front of us, which is currently proposed at eight cents. This would keep our rate at more than ten cents below the area average still at sixty-eight cents per $100 of assessed value. Considering a tax increase is not something we are taking lightly though, even if our rate stays in the lowest in the region. The link above describes the budgetary decisions that drove this proposal, namely the capital improvement projects needed by our educational system, police station, and library building. As always, please feel free to contact me or the entire Council (at council@williamsburgva.gov) if you would like to add your voice to the budgetary conversation.
• Affordable Housing Taskforce — Only a brief update here, but I was glad to participate in the second meeting of our City’s AHT. This was our second of six meetings and the first where we began considering ideas that could work in Williamsburg. I’m excited for the continuation of these monthly meetings and the submission of an affordable housing plan this summer.
• Sports tourism report — At this month’s work session, we heard from two economic consulting firms on the viability of a regional sports tourism complex. This is an exciting idea for attracting additional tourism to our area, which would benefit areas from our major institutions to our local businesses. If you are curious to learn more, I encourage you to check out the link to our previous Work Session, which holds both presentations from Victus and HVS Consulting.
• Minority business council update — Finally, I new partnership is forming in Williamsburg, one that will further connect our City and University communities. The City Council in our 2020–2022 GIO Set expressed interest in a Minority Business Council. One piece of the creation of this entity, which will be similar to councils focused on women-owned or veteran-owned businesses through our Business Chamber, will be learning from our current business community. To do this, the MBC planning committee decided to approach W&M with a summer research opportunity into this community. This past week, we received seven applications for full-time, paid research this summer and we are excited to choose a finalist soon!

There is plenty to rejoice over in the months ahead. Our amazing Farmer’s Market will return this weekend, lambs are newly trotting through CW pastures, and our Summer Breeze concert series is around the corner. I hope you will enjoy the warm outdoors and stay healthy as we enter into another beautiful Williamsburg Spring.

With gratitude,

Caleb

**this Newsletter is mine alone and does not represent the input of the entire City Council