Board to discuss FY26 budget at work session; Louisa County's population grows more than 10 percent since 2020; News roundup
Engage Louisa is a nonpartisan newsletter that keeps folks informed about Louisa County government. We believe our community is stronger and our government serves us better when we increase transparency, accessibility, and engagement.
This week in county government: public meetings, Feb. 3 through Feb. 8
For the latest information on county meetings including public meetings of boards, commissions, authorities, work groups, and internal county committees, click here. (Note: Louisa County occasionally schedules internal committee/work group meetings after publication time. Check the county’s website for the most updated information).
Monday, February 3
Finance Committee, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 2 pm.
Louisa County Board of Supervisors, budget work session, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 3 pm. (agenda, livestream)
Louisa County Board of Supervisors, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. The board will convene for closed session at 5 pm. (agenda packet, livestream)
Tuesday, February 4
Louisa County School Board, Central Office Administration Building, 953 Davis Highway, Mineral, 7 pm. (agenda, livestream)
Wednesday, February 5
Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, Betty Queen Center, 522 Industrial Drive, Louisa, 5:30 pm.
Additional information about Louisa County’s upcoming public meetings is available here.
Interested in taking your talents to one of the county’s numerous boards and commissions? Find out more here including which boards have vacancies and how to apply.
Quote of the week
“Parks and Rec has been underfunded for some time. So, to see some more funding come y’all’s way, I think, would be the wish of most of us.”
-Louisa District Supervisor Manning Woodward to Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee Chair Amy Ware during her presentation at the board’s January 21 meeting.
Read more about the Parks and Rec Department’s capital budget requests for Fiscal Year 2026 below.
BOS preview: Board to discuss FY26 budget at work session
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Monday night will convene for its first February meeting. Prior to the meeting, supervisors will hold their first budget work session for Fiscal Year 2026 where they’ll discuss funding for outside agencies and the preliminary Capital Improvement Plan. At its regular meeting, the board will consider yet another light agenda with one main action item and two presentations on tap.
Supes to dig into FY26 budget as county spending plan takes shape
Supervisors will hold their first work session of the Fiscal Year 2026 budget cycle on Monday at 3 pm just prior to their regular meeting. At the work session, they’ll discuss two components of the county’s budget: requests from outside agencies and capital projects.
At their last meeting, supervisors got what Finance Director Wanda Colvin described as a “very, very preliminary” look at the county’s budget picture for the coming fiscal year. (Read more).
Based on preliminary requests, Colvin estimates that the budget could near $195 million with about $174.7 million of that allotted for daily operations, typically referred to as the county’s Operations and Maintenance budget (O&M), and $20.1 million earmarked for capital spending, also known as the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) or capital budget.
As its name suggests, the O&M budget covers day-to-day expenses—everything from employees’ salaries to office supplies to fuel for fire trucks. The capital budget generally pays for big-ticket items like new fire stations, major renovations, emergency service equipment and school buses.
Colvin projects that revenues for FY26 could come in at nearly $184 million, which the county would use to fund its daily operations. That would leave a roughly $9.2 million operating surplus.
The surplus, Colvin said, could be used to offset capital spending. The board could also tap $16.6 million in its general fund and $14.8 million in its long-term capital reserves to cover those costs.
The county derives its revenue from local, state and federal sources with about half coming from general property taxes, namely taxes on real estate and automobiles. Colvin’s revenue projections assume that supervisors will adopt the same tax rates as last year including a 72-cent per $100 of assessed value rate for real estate and a $2.43 rate for cars and trucks. As the General Assembly hammers out amendments to the state budget, it’s unclear how much money the county will get from intergovernmental sources, Colvin said.
Monday’s work session is just the start of the FY26 budget cycle. Over the next few months, the board will finalize its spending plan, deciding how much money to allocate for emergency services, human services, schools and more, and settling on tax rates to help cover those expenses. Ahead of budget adoption, tentatively set for mid-April, the board is expected to hold two more work sessions and a pair of public hearings. The new fiscal year kicks off July 1.
For its part, the planning commission will hold a public hearing on the Capital Improvement Plan at its February 13 meeting while the school board will hold a public hearing on Louisa County Public Schools’ proposed $94 million operating budget this Tuesday. School officials will then forward their request to supervisors for consideration as part of the county budget.
For more information about the county budget, click here.
Parks and Rec requests could spark debate at work session
Based on requests from department heads and other county leaders, the draft Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for FY26 comes in at $20.1 million. That’s $31.5 million less than the capital budget for FY25, which included funding for major school construction.
Colvin noted at the board’s last meeting that the preliminary CIP is about $10 million less than the finance department anticipated a year ago. That’s mostly because a fire station, proposed for construction at Zion Crossroads and expected to cost $8.55 million, has been pushed back to FY28 to give the county time to study where to build the facility.
Still, the board will have plenty of proposed projects to discuss in this year’s CIP, most notably a multi-million-dollar request from the Parks and Recreation Department to fund new sports facilities.
Parks and Rec Director James Smith has asked for $4.175 million with the bulk of that going toward construction of an indoor aquatic center and multi-purpose recreation center in Fiscal Year 2028, and the remainder earmarked for a skateboard park proposed for construction in the coming fiscal year.
Residents have advocated for all three projects in recent budget cycles. And Smith has said that his department desperately needs to expand its facilities to meet the demands of the county’s growing population. During a presentation to the planning commission last month, Smith noted that Louisa’s population has doubled since the Betty Queen Center was built in the early 2000s. The center hosts much of the department’s indoor programming.
The county has already set aside $1.2 million for the aquatic center over the last three fiscal years. Smith proposes adding another $2 million in FY26 and FY27 then tacking on $3 million in FY28 to fully fund the project. He estimates an indoor facility featuring a junior Olympic size pool, warm water therapy/aerobic pool, bleachers, locker rooms and an office would cost about $8.2 million.
Smith is also asking for $2 million for the rec center in the coming fiscal year, $3 million in FY27 and $6.5 million in FY28, estimating it would cost $11.5 million. The facility would include indoor playing space for a range of sports, from pickleball to basketball, he’s said. It would also include a walking track and offer space for martial arts and exercise classes and other programming.
A $175,000 appropriation for a skatepark rounds out Smith’s requests. That would cover the cost of building the facility on an existing concrete pad adjacent to the Betty Queen Center where a skatepark was previously located. The new park would include composite ramps, benches, railings and fencing, according to Smith.
While Smith has a site for the skatepark, he told the planning commission he hasn’t identified a location for the indoor aquatic center or rec center. The county operates an outdoor aquatic center adjacent to the Betty Queen Center on a seasonal basis.
The Parks and Rec Department’s capital requests have been the subject of some debate and controversy in recent months, and they could be a hot topic Monday afternoon.
In the FY24 CIP, the board allotted about $3.5 million to build a pair of turf fields adjacent to Louisa County Middle School to provide all-weather playing space for football, soccer and other sports. But, as the county put out bids for the fields last year, the cost of the project soared to over $6.3 million, more than 75 percent over budget.
The overrun prompted the board to hold a public hearing to appropriate another $2.77 million for the fields, pulling $1 million from the department’s capital reserves.
The appropriation passed in a narrow 4-3 vote with Louisa District Supervisor Manning Woodward, one of the three board members who voted against it, expressing concern that it could pull money from other projects.
Woodward alluded to comments from Parks and Rec Advisory Committee Chair Amy Ware, who suggested during the public hearing that the board was ignoring both the committee’s priorities and the findings of a county-led survey that gathered feedback on what parks and rec facilities residents wants. Per the results, respondents ranked an indoor pool as their top priority.
Since then, Woodward has said that he believes the Parks and Rec Department is underfunded.
“Parks and Rec has been underfunded for some time. So, to see some more funding come y’all’s way, I think, would be the wish of most of us,” Woodward told Ware during an update from the committee at the board’s last meeting.
Still, most of the board’s seven members, including Woodward, ran for office as fiscal conservatives, arguing the county needs to rein in spending. It’s unclear if they’re willing to fork over another $4 million for new sports facilities.
Beyond Parks and Rec’s requests, the bulk of the proposed spending in this year’s CIP would cover the costs of renovations, repairs and related upgrades at existing facilities and new equipment for several departments.
For a deep dive into the preliminary CIP, read the Dec. 22 edition of Engage Louisa. Check out the draft CIP here.
Outside agencies ask for more than $6.3 million; Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation seeks more county support
Beyond requests from department heads and other county officials for capital projects, the board will also consider funding requests from outside agencies.
Outside agencies generally refer to organizations and entities that aren’t formally part of county government but partner with the locality to provide services. They include a diverse array of groups, from state and regional agencies like the Louisa County Health Department and the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library to small, local nonprofits like the Louisa County Historical Society and the Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation.
This year, 32 outside groups applied for more than $6.36 million in county support, a roughly $194,000, or 3.1 percent, increase over last year.
Supervisors don’t have much wiggle room on whether they appropriate some of that funding—like $2.7 million for the Central Virginia Regional Jail or $759,292 for the Health Department—because its essentially required by the state.
But funding for many outside groups is discretionary, so the board annually reviews the agencies’ requests and decides if paying out taxpayer dollars is justified. Board members will make many of those decisions Monday afternoon.
Of the outside groups that requested county support for FY26, 19 asked for more funding, eight requested the same amount and five asked for less.
A request that could stir some debate among board members comes from the Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation.
For about three decades, the foundation has provided critical home repairs to income-eligible residents, rehabbed dilapidated homes, offered affordable rental units, installed accessibility ramps and conducted a first-time homebuyer education program. It’s currently developing an affordable housing complex with 25 rental units for low-income elderly and disabled residents and essential workers.
Executive Director Kim Hyland is asking the board for $215,000, more than three times what her organization got this year. FLHF received $65,000 in FY25, $20,000 more than it nabbed in FY24 but $90,000 less than it requested.
Hyland said in her written request that the organization would use the lion’s share of that money—$165,000—to support its daily operations. She anticipates that FLHF’s operating budget will top $575,000 in the next fiscal year, noting that, in order to deliver critical services to the community, the organization must cover growing administrative costs. including hiring more staff.
Of FLHF’s staffing needs, Hyland wrote: “The increase in paperwork requirements in the past few years due to bureaucratic processes requires staff to be employed by FLHF to distribute funds and provide programming. The FLHF distributes funding to the residents and qualifies them for the programs we have available. Without FLHF staff, no funds make it to our county.”
Beyond that ask, the foundation is seeking $50,000 for its “Essential Home Repair” pilot program, which would provide grants for emergency home repairs to Louisa County residents with income at or below 50 percent of the area median income (AMI). The program would help offset the costs of major repairs for roofs, HVAC systems, septic systems, plumbing and electric, following the same model the organization currently uses for repairs.
Hyland says that FLHF needs the county’s support for the pilot program as it expects to get less money from other sources.
FLHF’s budget request sparked debate among board members during the last budget cycle when Hyland pushed for a $110,000 funding increase and the finance committee, which includes Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams and Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams, recommended just a $10,000 hike.
Adams and Williams said they couldn’t justify providing the foundation with substantially more support since much of the money would pay for additional staff.
“One of these positions is $75,000, and it doesn’t put one air conditioner in. It doesn’t build one set of steps. It doesn’t put any ramps in. It doesn’t fix any leaky roofs,” Adams said during a work session last year.
Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones, who serves on the foundation’s board of directors, pushed back, pointing to the growing demand for the group’s services and the need for more administrative support to ensure their delivery.
The board eventually agreed to allocate $65,000, $20,000 more than the year before, with the caveat that they didn’t want the money spent on administrative functions.
Check out the requests from outside agencies here.
Board to consider MOU for water line easement maintenance
In the lone action item on the board’s regular agenda, supervisors will consider greenlighting a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the county and the Louisa County Water Authority (LCWA) that governs the maintenance of authority-owned water line easement.
The agreement doesn’t say so explicitly, but the easement in question is apparently a 13-mile stretch of water line running between southern Fluvanna County and Ferncliff though other easements could also be covered by the agreement.
The line was initially constructed about eight years ago to carry water from the James River to a treatment plant near Route 250. It’s sat idle since then as the James River Water Authority, a joint initiative between Louisa and Fluvanna counties, struggled to get the permits necessary to withdraw water from the river. With those permits in hand and construction of a water intake and pump station on the banks of the James underway, Louisa is preparing for the day when its water line is operational.
Under the MOU, the county, via its Parks and Recreation and General Services Departments, will serve as the easement’s primary caretaker in coordination with the authority. The departments will cut and clear vegetation biannually—once in late winter/early spring and once in late fall/early winter—with LCWA permitted to perform additional maintenance outside that schedule.
To handle the maintenance, the county plans to purchase a skid steer with bush hog and mulch attachments. The authority agrees to provide $160,000 for the equipment. According to county officials, the skid steer and attachments are expected to cost just under $190,000.
Both county and water authority personnel are permitted to use the equipment if they are properly trained. The county will handle major and minor repairs, but each entity is responsible for footing the bill for any damage that happens on its watch.
Board to get update from VDOT, Central Virginia Small Business Development Center
In other business, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will deliver its quarterly update to the board, and the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center will brief supervisors on its work. The center is one of more than 30 outside groups that receives financial support from the county. In FY25, the board gave the group $23,841. It’s requesting $25,737 for FY26.
Louisa County’s population grows 10.2 percent since 2020 census
Louisa County’s population has grown 10.2 percent since the 2020 census, making it the state’s third fastest growing locality.
That’s according to the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, which provides the state with official population estimates in years between the federal decennial census.
According to Weldon Cooper’s latest data, Louisa had 41,428 residents as of July 1, 2024, adding 3,832 people since April 2020 when the census conducted its count. The county trails only New Kent and Goochland counties in percent of population growth over the last four years. New Kent grew 16.8 percent since 2020 while Goochland grew 11.2 percent.
Like Louisa, both counties lie on the outskirts of the Richmond metro area. They’ve ranked just ahead of Louisa as the first and second fastest growing localities in the state, respectively, for the last several years. Caroline County, the state’s fourth fastest growing locality, is also similar to Louisa. It’s a mostly rural area that lies in proximity to both Richmond and Fredericksburg.
Virginia’s latest population data continues to reflect a nationwide trend: residents are leaving densely populated urban and suburban areas for rural and exurban communities in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A closer look at Weldon Cooper’s data shows that, though there were 130 more deaths than births in Louisa between April 2020 and July 2024, 3,962 more people moved to the area than left. Between July 1, 2023 and July 1, 2024, the county added 994 residents, growing at a 2.45 percent clip.
Louisa County’s brisk growth has significantly outpaced what Weldon Cooper demographers had anticipated. In population projections released in 2022, the center predicted the county would be home to 41,436 residents by 2030. As of last July, the county had nearly eclipsed that number.
In an email to Engage Louisa following the release of population estimates last year, Hamilton Lombard, estimates program manager for the center’s Demographics Research Group, said Louisa’s growth is driven by a few key factors. Those include its proximity to several sizable metropolitan areas, its lower cost of living than nearby cities and a rise in remote work prompted by the pandemic.
Lombard noted that the county is drawing a significant number of retirees to Lake Anna, but it’s also attracting young families with the latter bolstering school enrollment.
Louisa County Public Schools (LCPS) is seeing the impact of steady residential growth, especially at the elementary school level. LCPS Superintendent Doug Straley told the planning commission in January that, since 2019, the school division has added 174 students in kindergarten through 5th grade with 128 of those coming in the last two years. From 2013 to 2019, he said, the division only saw its elementary school enrollment fluctuate by one student.
In response to those numbers and the likelihood of continued growth, Straley said LCPS is preparing to build a fifth elementary school as soon as 2030. The division is currently constructing a 500-seat addition to the county’s lone middle school.
In compiling annual population estimates, Weldon Cooper demographers draw on a range of sources, including tax records, new home construction, school enrollment, and birth and death records, according to the center’s website. The state relies on the estimates to allocate funding and guide its decision-making.
More than 2,500 new dwellings planned
Louisa’s steady residential growth isn’t likely to subside any time soon, thanks in part, to several large-scale developments planned for the county’s designated growth areas and the sizable number of buildable lots available in its more rural reaches.
At Zion Crossroads, a key driver in the county’s residential and commercial growth over the last two decades, a pair of dense mixed-use developments are in the works: the 300-plus unit Crossing Pointe and the 649-dwelling Zion Town Center. Both were initially approved in 2019, but neither have been constructed.
Lake Anna is also experiencing substantial residential growth though, as a resort community, many of the new and planned lakeside dwellings may not house full-time residents.
Reef Capital Partners is preparing to break ground on Cutalong at Lake Anna, a 891-dwelling golf resort community on the shores of Contrary Creek. While many of those dwellings will be vacation rentals, the complex could bring in some new residents.
The board of supervisors has also approved a 96-unit residential condo building just west of the Route 208 bridge. And new subdivisions, including Rock Island Landing and Compass Cove, are being developed on the lake’s private side.
The towns of Louisa and Mineral are also poised for significant residential growth. Over the last three years, the Louisa Town Council has approved about 475 new dwellings—a mix of townhomes, apartments and single-family homes—across three developments slated for the town’s eastern edge. In the Town of Mineral, a developer is trying to resurrect an 18-year-old plan to build a nearly 300-home Planned Unit Development south of First Street and east of Albemarle Avenue.
A push to slow growth
Louisa’s escalating population has rankled some in county government who hope to slow the influx of new residents.
In the coming year, the county will conduct a state-mandated review of its Comprehensive Plan, a long-range planning document that lays out a vision for future development. The board of supervisors adopted a sweeping overhaul of the plan in 2019, shrinking the county’s designated growth areas by more than 70 percent and, based on community feedback, stating as the plan’s chief goal the preservation of the community’s rural character.
The board followed that with a rewrite of the zoning code two years later, slightly increasing the minimum lot size in general residential zoning from just under an acre to an acre and a half. While those changes were theoretically aimed at slowing growth, they haven’t had much impact in practice.
Some board members have talked broadly about taking additional steps to stem the tide of new residents, correlating residential growth with the burgeoning cost of county services. But they haven’t floated specific proposals—at least not yet.
In an interview with Engage Louisa in November, Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams said the board could enact “changes to A-1 and A-2 zoning in the county to limit further residential growth,” adding that he’s still formulating ideas about next steps.
Williams, who serves on the board’s finance committee, has repeatedly raised concerns about residential growth in discussions about the county budget.
During a budget presentation at the board’s January 21 meeting, Finance Director Wanda Colvin said that, based on preliminary numbers, the county’s operating budget could reach $174.7 million in FY26, more than $18 million more than this year. That potential jump is fueled, in part, by new debt service payments, primarily for school construction, and requests for more than a dozen new full-time staff positions.
Williams suggested that residential growth is placing more demands on local government, leading to escalating costs.
In October, supervisors formally launched the Comp Plan review, directing staff and the planning commission “to review the current growth areas and recommend if the size and locations are still appropriate.”
Supervisors have appointed two board members—Board Chair and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams and Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones—to a joint work group to consider potential changes to the plan. To date, the group hasn’t had any public meetings.
News roundup: Louisa TC nixes proposal for more duplexes in Tanyard; Tenant allegedly shoots landlord in eastern Louisa
Engage Louisa focuses on Louisa County government. We recognize we can’t cover everything, and there’s plenty of other news in our neck of the woods. With that in mind, we occasionally include a roundup of links to the work of other journalists covering noteworthy events and issues that impact our community.
Louisa Town Council denies duplex application in Tanyard -The Central Virginian (metered paywall)
Louisa woman accused of shooting her landlord in the neck -WRIC
Louisa, other localities getting money from Forest Sustainability Fund -CBS 19
Professional and retail space coming to 208 by late 2025 -Lake Anna Breeze
Click here for contact information for the Louisa County Board of Supervisors.
Find agendas and minutes from previous Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission meetings as well as archived recordings here.
Click here for contact information for the Louisa County School Board.
Click here for minutes and agendas for School Board meetings. Click here for archived video.
Click here to access past editions of Engage Louisa.