This week in county government; Amid fears of cuts, supes say they're committed to maintaining Jaunt service; Board talks budget, green-lights new FEMS staffers; Bell won’t seek re-election in HD55
This week in county government; Amid fears of cuts, supes say they're committed to maintaining Jaunt service; Board talks budget, green-lights new FEMS staffers; Bell won’t seek re-election in HD55
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. 27 through March 4
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 frequently schedules internal committee/work group meetings after publication time. Check the county’s website for the most updated information).
Tuesday, February 28
Human Services Advisory Committee, Human Services Conference Room, Human Services Building, 103 McDonald Street, Louisa, 11 am.
Wednesday, March 1
Commission on Aging, Betty Queen Center, 522 Industrial Drive, Louisa, 10 am.
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.
FY24 Budget: Amid fears of cuts, supes say they're committed to maintaining Jaunt service
Members of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday said that they don’t intend to cut the service of regional transit provider Jaunt even as the agency asks for a $343,000 funding hike for Fiscal Year 2024, a 118 percent increase over last year.
“This board is in the process of (crafting) the budget. This board is committed to making sure that services are not cut, that services stay the same level, and we will find a solution,” Board Chair Duane Adams told a crowd of Jaunt supporters who attended supervisors’ bimonthly meeting amid fears of a reduction in service.
Jaunt riders, staff, and other supporters spoke during the meeting’s public comment period, urging the board to fully fund the agency. Many of the speakers called Jaunt’s bus routes a “lifeline” that allow them or their loved ones to get to work, go to the doctor, and run errands.
“What does Jaunt mean? I looked it up in a few dictionaries. It means an excursion or a journey for pleasure. And, yes, Jaunt provides us with that. We can go see a movie, go out to dinner, go to the park. It’s great. But Jaunt is so much more than that here in Louisa. We have so many people here who depend on this service because we are elderly or disabled or we don’t have a car or the car is broken down,” Jaunt rider Keith Kennedy said. “It is indeed a lifeline for everybody who depends on this service.”
Jaunt, a public service corporation jointly owned by five localities including Louisa, asked supervisors for just over $637,000 for FY24 to maintain its current service, up from $294,000 last year. The agency provides public transportation to destinations across Louisa from 6 am to 5 pm five days a week while also taking residents to Charlottesville. Flat funding the provider would result in a 42 percent service reduction, cutting routes to three days per week and eliminating the Charlottesville trips.
Jaunt CEO Ted Rieck said during the public comment period that the funding increase is necessary because Louisa and several other localities haven’t paid their fair share in recent years. He also said that Jaunt’s operating costs have risen due to inflation and increased ridership, and that pandemic-related emergency relief funding is coming to end.
“We are trying to turn a corner at Jaunt,” said Rieck, who took the reins as the agency’s CEO in December 2021. “Many of the communities have not paid their fair share of services, Louisa being one of them. It’s not Louisa’s fault necessarily, but we need to find a way to formally and equitably distribute costs and funding among the region.”
County officials are negotiating with Jaunt to cover the funding request and maintain current services, supervisors said during both Tuesday’s budget work session and their regular meeting. Board members and Rieck expressed optimism that the county and the agency would finalize an agreement.
“When we initially discussed this increase with county leadership, we were told very clearly that the county is usually very reluctant to grant any kind of a funding increase. With this possibility, the reality of a 42 percent service reduction was out there. We are grateful that the county leadership has expressed their interest in avoiding this circumstance and we are very confident that we can do that without reducing services,” Rieck said.
Finance Director Wanda Colvin said in an email that, at its March meeting, Jaunt’s Board of Directors is expected to consider approval of a funding plan in which the county covers the $637,000 request for FY24 but receives a $161,424 rebate from reserve funds that Jaunt accumulated via Covid relief. Going forward Jaunt projects a 4 percent annual funding increase, but future allocations could also be offset by rebates.
Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry, one of two representatives from Louisa on Jaunt’s board, said Rieck was accurate in pointing out that Louisa hadn’t paid its part for its current service. He attributed the underpayment to former CEO Brad Sheffield.
“Brad, the previous CEO, was treating Louisa better than most other counties. When he would come here and we’d talk about not giving a big increase, he would go back and try to satisfy our request (by moving money around),” Gentry said.
Sheffield was forced to resign in December 2020 after an audit revealed he had spent lavishly on travel including first-class plane tickets to a Paris transportation conference, luxury hotels, and expensive dinners. A subsequent review by the Department of Rail and Public Transportation found that Sheffield over-reported ridership and underreported costs with contracted services, resulting in the agency receiving more state and federal funding than it should have.
Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams said that he has met with Rieck and thinks he’s moving the organization in the right direction by implementing accountability and transparency in how it allocates funding.
But he expressed frustration with how Rieck handled budget negotiations with Louisa, claiming that he assumed the county would balk at fully funding the request. Williams said that Rieck “weaponized his staff” against the board, noting that Jaunt drivers provided supervisors’ contact information to riders and told them service would be cut.
“Nobody said these words at all to him. In essence, he has weaponized his staff, through all the ridership, and we started receiving some calls from that,” Williams said.
Several other supervisors said that, prior to Tuesday’s meeting, they received a flurry of phone calls and emails from Jaunt riders who feared the buses would no longer operate five days a week.
“There was a real fear in people…that we were cutting services. They believed that they would be homebound and couldn’t get to their doctors, couldn’t get their food or anything,” Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones said.
Rieck struck a conciliatory tone Tuesday night, thanking supervisors for their “cooperative nature and the spirit to find some way to maintain services within the fiscal realities faced by the county.” He also thanked Jaunt riders and other supporters who showed up to tell their stories.
Fourteen community members spoke on Jaunt’s behalf, telling the board that the organization provides an essential service that they can’t find anywhere else. They said its routes are critical for the elderly, residents with disabilities, and those with unreliable transportation.
Delmayne Carter, a Patrick Henry District resident, said that she discovered Jaunt after her sister’s kidney failed three years ago and she required dialysis three days a week. She said that Jaunt transports her sister to her appointments, calling it “a blessing” and urging the board to fully fund its operations.
“Jaunt provides very critical service to Louisa County’s older residents and people with disabilities. Jaunt’s services are invaluable not only to dialysis patients, but to our aging community to get to doctor visits, grocery shopping, etcetera,” she said.
Rev. Geraldine Shelton, a Cuckoo District resident, said that, after graduating from high school, her granddaughter relied on Jaunt to get to her job at Hardees, noting that the organization serves a wide range of residents.
“I thank God for Jaunt. Not only do the elderly and sick (need Jaunt), but the young (people) need it for transportation to their jobs as well,” she said.
Shelton added that she was recently in a car accident and a medic who came to help told her not to worry because, “in Louisa, we take care of our own.” “Board of Supervisors, I am asking you right now to take care of your own,” she said.
Mineral District resident Faith Langford told the board that when she first moved to Louisa from Washington, DC, it was a tough adjustment, in part, because she didn’t know how she would get around. But she soon saw a Jaunt bus, she said, and has come to rely on the service to take her son, who is autistic, to the doctor.
“I have been riding Jaunt for 22 years, so I think I speak with some authority,” she said. “Jaunt truly is a lifeline for us.”
Louisa District resident Alan Gage agreed. He said that he stopped driving five years ago after a neurological condition caused him to black out behind the wheel. Now, he depends on Jaunt.
“if you live in Louisa, everyone knows there is Jaunt and there is basically nothing else,” he said.
FY24 Budget: Board talks budget at work session
Although several significant questions remain, Louisa County’s budget for Fiscal Year 2024 is taking shape.
Supervisors allocate millions of dollars in local, state, and federal funding via the annual budget process, which pays for everything from police to public schools. Over the next two months, the board will continue to craft the budget for the fiscal year that kicks off July 1, holding two public hearings before its adoption in mid-April.
During an hour-long budget work session Tuesday afternoon, supervisors discussed three aspects of the FY24 spending plan: the operating budget, which covers daily operations and maintenance; the Capital Improvement Plan, which covers spending on big-ticket items like water and sewer infrastructure, school buildings, and fire trucks; and funding for outside agencies. These groups include everything from the Louisa County Public Library to the Central Virginia Regional Jail. They aren’t officially part of county government but partner with the county to provide important services. (video)
Here's a recap of the work session and where the county budget currently stands.
Operating budget
Adopted last May, the operating budget for this fiscal year topped $135 million. That figure could rise to nearly $150 million for FY24.
During a budget presentation at the board’s February 6 meeting, Finance Director Wanda Colvin said that, based on preliminary requests, operating expenses are expected to rise nearly 11 percent next year, or $14.4 million, reaching $149.6 million.
A variety of factors are driving up expenses, according to Colvin, including an anticipated 13.5 percent hike in employees’ health insurance costs, a potential five percent pay raise for staff and a pay hike for part-time hourly workers to a minimum of $15 an hour, and departmental requests for 14 new staff positions. The latter includes nine new staffers for the Fire and EMS department—eight firefighters/medics and one part-time employee to handle logistics—three new sheriff’s deputies, and two new animal control attendants.
Louisa County Public Schools’ funding request also increased, topping $78 million, a roughly $7.5 million hike over last year. But Colvin noted that a significant portion of that funding would be offset by revenue from state and federal sources. The school division’s annual appropriation typically comprises more than 50 percent of the county’s budget.
County revenues are also on the rise and, based on current projections, set to outpace expenses, Colvin said. Revenues are expected to increase about 11.5 percent, or $16.15 million, over last year, reaching nearly $157 million.
That’s driven largely by increases in real estate and personal property tax revenue. Based on the current tax rates, revenues from real estate taxes are projected to rise some 17 percent, about $7.45 million, while revenues from personal property taxes could jump as much as 24 percent, roughly $2.75 million.
Colvin reiterated on Tuesday that those projections are based on current tax rates: 72 cents per $100 of assessed value on real estate and $2.43 per $100 of assessed value for personal property, namely vehicles. Supervisors haven’t formally advertised or adopted either rate.
Supervisors didn’t appear to show much interest in lowering the rates during Tuesday’s work session even as real estate tax assessments rose about 14 percent excluding new construction and improvements and personal property tax assessments are expected to jump about 20 percent. If the rates remain flat, many residents will see their tax bill rise.
Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams, who serves on the Finance Committee and is considered one of the board’s most fiscally conservative members, said that, like everything else, the cost to run local government is going up, pointing to six new Fire and EMS staffers that supervisors approved at Tuesday night’s meeting.
“You find me something that hasn’t gone up in price,” Williams said.
Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones said she knows rising assessments are squeezing some long-time residents. But she also said that there isn’t much fat in the county budget.
“People come before us and say we need to cut the fat out of our budget. Where would you like to cut that? Our county administrator has already done that,” Jones said.
Louisa’s real estate and personal property tax rates rank among the lowest in the area. Neither has changed since 2016.
Beyond settling on tax rates, county officials are awaiting a final state budget, Colvin said, which could affect the local spending plan. Budget negotiators from the Republican-controlled House of Delegates and Democratic-controlled Senate are hammering out amendments to the two-year state budget adopted last year, but it’s unclear when they’ll finalize a plan. The General Assembly ended its 2023 regular session on Saturday, passing only a “skinny” budget bill as a stop-gap measure, according to The Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The board is expected to hold a public hearing at their March 20 meeting on real estate tax assessments. The hearing is statutorily required if assessments rise more than one percent and the county doesn’t propose lowering the rate to offset the increase. They’ll hold a second public hearing on the budget and advertised tax rates at their April 3 meeting.
Capital Improvement Plan
As originally introduced, next year’s Capital Improvement Plan included about $69 million in spending requests. The board briefly discussed a slightly slimmed down version Tuesday afternoon albeit one that still reaches nearly $49 million.
Much of the $20 million reduction can be attributed to changes in the county’s plans to deliver water and sewer infrastructure to several of its designated growth areas.
The plan still includes significant investments in water and sewer including $18 million to complete the James River Water Project and $15.9 million to bring wet utilities to the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park. But the latter request is 42 percent lower than Economic Development Director Andy Wade’s original ask thanks to an $11.59 million state grant. The grant is aimed at increasing the availability of shovel-ready sites for large-scale economic development projects like distribution centers and manufacturing.
County officials moved to FY25 a $6.5 million request to upgrade a troubled wastewater treatment plant at Lake Anna. The county agreed to purchase the plant for $90,000 in January with plans to bring it into compliance with state regulations and expand it to support future development along Route 208.
Among other spending, the draft plan includes:
Nearly $3 million for Firefly Fiber Broadband’s RISE project, a partnership between Firefly, a subsidiary of Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, and Dominion Energy, to bring universal fiber access to the county by 2025. In 2021, supervisors committed about $9 million to the effort, paying the first roughly $3 million installment last year.
$3.4 million to build two turf fields adjacent to Louisa County Middle School. Last year, the board considered placing a referendum on the ballot to ask voters if they wanted to fund new fields, but supervisors instead opted to pursue more modest upgrades through the normal budget process.
About $1.82 million for Louisa County Public Schools including about $840,000 for five new full-size school buses, one bus for special needs students, a 10-passenger van, and maintenance equipment for the bus garage, $355,000 for technology upgrades, and $150,000 to upgrade HVAC systems.
Roughly $1.89 million for the Fire and EMS Department with $1.15 million of that slated for new fire and rescue units and $250,000 earmarked for renovations at the Louisa Volunteer Fire Department. The FEMS request is about $900,000 lower than its original ask as staff plans to apply for a grant to cover the costs of new self-contained breathing apparatuses (see below) and the department opted to renovate the Louisa firehouse instead of building an addition.
$1.86 million for the General Services Department including about $725,000 for expenses related to the Louisa County Landfill and more than $475,000 for improvements at the courthouse and the General District Court Building.
$885,000 for the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office with nearly $650,000 of that earmarked for vehicle replacement.
About $750,000 for the Louisa County Water Authority including $250,000 for improvements at Bowlers Mill Dam. The board allocated $1 million toward dam improvements this fiscal year.
Colvin said the county could draw on several revenue sources to pay for the plan including issuing bonds to finish the James River waterline and utilities at Shannon Hill and tapping $10.7 million in capital reserves. She also said that the school division would use some of its $4.6 million in reserves to cover its request.
At its March 9 meeting, the Planning Commission will vote on whether to recommend that the Board of Supervisors adopt the plan, but supervisors can still make changes as the budget process moves forward.
During their brief discussion of the CIP, Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry expressed some reservations about the $3.4 million for turf fields. Parks and Recreations Director James Smith and LCPS Superintendent Doug Straley told the Planning Commission in January that the county has a dearth of usable playing surfaces for youth and scholastic sports and the fields are a significant need. But Gentry, long a champion of an indoor aquatic center, wondered why the fields should take priority over an indoor pool.
“I think three and a half million dollars for the middle school turf fields is a bit much and it’s jumping way ahead of my pool,” Gentry said.
Supervisors have been saving for an indoor aquatic center for the last several years and set aside $400,000 for the $8 million facility in next year’s CIP. The center is currently slated for full funding in FY26.
While supervisors will only appropriate funding for the FY24 plan during the current budget cycle, the document projects 20 years of capital spending requests. In the next five years, the county expects to spend more than $50 million on new school facilities and $6 million on two new fire and EMS stations.
Outside agencies
Supervisors spent most of the work session discussing funding for outside agencies. In FY23, the county allotted about $5.6 million to outside groups that provide a range of local services. For FY24, funding requests rose nearly $900,000. That includes a $343,000 increase in regional transit provider Jaunt’s request. The board is negotiating with the agency to meet its funding needs and maintain current service levels. (See article above).
Beyond Jaunt, supervisors agreed to meet the funding requests for most of the 34 outside groups. But they requested more information from a handful of organizations, some of which requested sizable increases. Representatives from the groups are expected to attend the board’s March 6 budget work session.
Here’s a look at a few of the organizations the board will hear from and some details about their requests.
Louisa County Historical Society: LCHS requested $57,500 in county funds for FY24, a $50,000 increase over last year. In its proposal, the nonprofit organization said the money would help cover operating expenses at its museum, which serves as Louisa’s welcome center, displays historical exhibits, houses and preserves archives, and hosts educational programs. The organization notes that it’s retooling its fundraising in an effort to improve its financial security.
Louisa District Supervisor Eric Purcell and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams both said they’d like to hear more from the organization while applauding its work.
“(Their) digitalization program is pretty neat…that allows people from outside of the county borders to research all of our records, so you can be a descendant that lives in Georgia and look up stuff on the computer. There is a lot of processing time that goes into that,” Purcell said. “They are expanding their educational opportunities to get outside of this notion that Louisa was 15 families and getting into different ethnic groups and everybody’s histories.”
Fluvanna/Louisa Housing Foundation: FLHF owns 29 affordable rental units, provides critical home repairs to low-income residents, and installs access ramps for residents with mobility issues.
The organization is partnering with the county to build 25 rental units for essential workers adjacent to the Louisa County Resource Council, leveraging federal grant funding to pay for part of the project.
FLHF requested $45,000 for the next fiscal year, a $19,350 increase over last year. According to its proposal, the group continues to “see a rise in demand for our services and (is) struggling to keep pace with our small staff of 4.” The organization plans to use the money to hire additional staff and cover other overhead costs. The proposal notes that the organization funds much of its work through state and federal grants, but it’s difficult to use grant funding for administrative costs.
Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones, who sits on the foundation’s Board of Directors, and Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry said they support the request.
“If we are going to start taking affordable housing seriously, we’ve got to start pumping some money into it and this is as good of a place as any,” Gentry said.
Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams said that while he supports the foundation’s work, he wants to hear directly from its leadership.
“I don’t think any of the $19,350 is going to affordable housing. It’s going to administrative and staffing things and that’s a large increase for administrative and staffing as a percentage not as a dollar number,” Williams said.
Jefferson-Madison Regional Library: The Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, which operates the Louisa County Library and seven other branches across five localities, requested $407,237 for FY24, a $15,281 increase over last year. Executive Director David Plunkett said in an email to county staff that the funding would cover the cost of new bookmobile service as well as salary and benefits adjustments for staff.
Though JMRL is asking for less than a four percent increase, Adams said he wanted to hear from the library.
Adams threatened to pull county funding from the system last May after a group of descendants of enslaved laborers asked the library’s Board of Trustees to change its name, removing references to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, both of whom were slaveholders. The power to change the library’s name belongs to its five member jurisdictions. The Louisa and Greene County Boards of Supervisors unanimously passed resolutions opposing a name change.
Region Ten: Region Ten provides mental health services and works with residents with developmental disabilities and substance abuse disorders. The nonprofit organization requested $240,264 for the next fiscal year, a $95,264 funding hike.
Region Ten plans use the funding to support its outpatient and emergency services, day support programs, and psycho-social rehabilitation services. According to its proposal, the organization is working with Louisa County to build a free-standing clinic and psycho-social rehabilitation center on property it owns on Elm Street. Williams said he wants to hear more from the group before deciding on its funding level.
Louisa County Industrial Development Authority: The Industrial Development Authority requested $288,920 for FY24, a $138,824 increase over last year. The authority, which runs the Louisa County Airport, asked for the additional funding, in part, to cover staffing and maintenance costs. Williams said he wanted to hear more about the request.
Click here to learn more about the county’s budget process.
Supervisors approve six new FEMS staffers for New Bridge station
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved hiring six new firefighters and medics to staff the New Bridge Fire and EMS Station. The station, located along Route 208 just east of the Lake Anna Food Lion, is expected to be complete this spring. (meeting materials, video)
The six new staffers, which the department hopes to hire in March, will cost the county $213,572 this fiscal year and $550,716 annually. There’s also a $30,000 one-time cost for uniforms and protective equipment.
Fire and EMS Chief Kristin Hawk told the board that the department applied for a federal grant to temporarily fund the positions but didn’t receive it, prompting the request for a mid-year appropriation. She said the department is currently interviewing candidates and plans to hire and train the new staff in time for the station’s opening.
Though he ultimately voted to fund the six hires, Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow expressed some concern that paid staff would shoulder much of the workload at the station.
Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams said that he fully expected the station to be run by paid staff when the board decided to construct it with county funds. The station is the first in the county to be built almost entirely with taxpayer dollars though the Foundation for Lake Anna Emergency Services raised $100,000 to jumpstart the process.
Williams said that the days of stations built and run by volunteers are coming to end.
“I don’t think you’ll ever form another station like that in this county. To expect anything different is unrealistic,” he said.
But both Hawk and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams said that they anticipate volunteers will play a critical role in supplementing career staff. Hawk noted that the station will only house two career staffers per shift.
“There’s only two personnel there per day and you’ll have three pieces of apparatus to start out with, so those career providers will jump staff from ambulance to engine. The volunteer base will be greatly appreciated in the fact that (the station) doesn’t have a complete staff,” Hawk said.
“I do know that there’s a great interest in volunteerism around the lake at that new station,” Adams said. “I get more phone calls every day as (people) see the building coming closer and closer to completion.”
The six new staffers are part of a larger budget request for FY24 to hire eight new firefighters and medics and one-part time logistics staffer. That request is expected to cost the county $747,000 annually. The county’s long-range Capital Improvement Plan includes two county-funded fire and EMS stations, one at Zion Crossroads, slated for FY25, and another tentatively planned for Ferncliff in FY27.
Board okays FEMS grant application for SCBAs: Supervisors voted unanimously to green-light a resolution authorizing the Fire and EMS Department to apply for a grant to purchase new self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBA). The resolution notes that the department’s current SCBA equipment is at the end of its lifespan and out of compliance with National Fire Protection Association regulations. The grant requires a 90/10 local match, so the county would be on the hook for up to $194,650 in equipment costs if its awarded.
Election 2023: Bell won’t seek re-election in HD55
Delegate Rob Bell, who has represented the 58th House of Delegates District since 2002, announced on Saturday that he won’t seek re-election in the newly drawn 55th District.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve in the House of Delegates. I want to thank the voters who allowed me to represent them in Richmond for the last 22 years. Once the elections were over, they shared their ideas with me and came to the Capitol to testify for the bills we came up with. With their advocacy and hard work, we've been able to pass laws on issues like domestic violence, drunk driving and bullying in schools. These successes would not have been possible without them,” Bell (R-Albemarle) said in a floor speech on the final day of the General Assembly’s regular session.
During the 2021 redistricting process, Bell’s district was transformed from a Republican stronghold covering a swath of rural central Virginia, including part of Albemarle County, to a Democratic-leaning district that includes western Louisa, most of Albemarle, northern Nelson, and a sliver of Fluvanna. Democrat Terry McAuliffe won the 55th by about 11 points during his failed bid for governor in 2021.
A prolific fundraiser and well-known incumbent, Bell’s decision to step aside significantly improves Democrats’ chances to flip the seat. Two Democrats—former Charlottesville School Board Chair Amy Laufer and ER nurse Kellen Squire—will square off in a June 20 primary for their party’s nomination. At publication time, no Republican has announced plans to run in the district.
All 140 seats in the General Assembly—40 in the state Senate and 100 in the House of Delegates--are up for grabs this fall. The General Election is November 7.
Both Laufer and Squire were quick to weigh in on Bell’s retirement, striking somewhat different tones.
“Despite our profound differences, anyone who puts themselves forward and serves their community is deserving of our respect. However, as we’ve progressed, it’s clear Del. Bell no longer represents our values and that we need new leadership,” Laufer said in a statement. “We need a representative that will stand up for a woman’s right to choose, address the gun violence plaguing our community, and fight for forward-thinking legislation to halt the climate crisis.”
Squire said that Bell opted to retire because he and his party knew they couldn’t win the district.
“I wish I could say I’m surprised. We’d heard that Delegate Bell was concerned about running for re-election in a district whose borders he didn’t personally draw,” Squire said in a press release.
The release said that was a reference to Bell’s involvement in “Operation Red Map,” a 2010 Republican effort to flip statehouse seats through gerrymandering. In 2020, Virginia voters passed a constitutional amendment aimed at limiting gerrymandering, handing redistricting over to a bipartisan commission. After the commission failed to reach consensus, the Virginia Supreme Court approved new districts.
“The Virginia GOP calculated that they’d have to spend millions of dollars in our district - and waste it in the face of the campaign we’ve built,” Squire said.
Both Laufer and Squire have previously run for state office. Laufer narrowly lost a 2019 bid to oust Republican Bryce Reeves in the 17th Senate District, which included most of Louisa County. Squire lost to Bell in 2017 in the 58th House District race.
During his lengthy tenure in Richmond, Bell rose to chair the House Courts of Justice Committee and the state’s Crime Commission. A former prosecutor in Orange County and one-time attorney general hopeful, he helped pass legislation that toughened penalties for drunk driving, expanded the availability of protective orders, and strengthened punishment for sex offenders.
In a post on Twitter, House colleague and fellow Republican Emily Brewer said that Bell “has been the voice for the voiceless and essentially the keeper of the Criminal Code in Virginia for 2 decades.”
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