When state legislators return to Richmond in January to convene the General Assembly, Fredericksburg city officials will be watching.
At its Oct. 22 meeting, the city council unanimously passed its Legislative Agenda, which detailed the city’s stances on a number of statewide issues.
Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley outlined the statewide expansion of a referendum for a sales tax to cover school construction as well as the extension of certain permit deadlines for wastewater treatment plants as two issues city officials will be monitoring with particular interest during the upcoming legislative session.
“While we already have a school under construction, this would cover construction debt for that,” Mayor Kerry Devine said of the sales tax referendum, which was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin this past year. “Very significant for us.”
Devine also noted that the city is again asking state legislators for the authority to enforce illegally modified vehicles and the noise they create in downtown corridors. Under the Dillon Rule, case law that dates back to 1868, Virginia localities often require explicit permission from the state to exercise certain powers.
“We’re often left essentially asking the state for power to do the things the community needs,” Councilor Will Mackintosh said.
Mackintosh (at-large) added that recent conversations in the community influenced the inclusion of language in the agenda regarding the environmental impacts of data centers.
“I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that those impacts are very real and also very much beyond our power to control as a local government,” Mackintosh said. “What we can do as a local body is reach out to Richmond and remind them of the community’s commitment to economic growth in our region and making sure that still meets the climate goals we’ve set.”
City Council also unanimously adopted its vision, desired future states and council priorities for 2024-27. Over three days this past summer, officials held its off-site biennial planning to update the document, which was initially drafted back in 2016.
“These are basically marching orders, and it’s quite a list,” Devine said.
It includes 36 priorities grouped under eight different “desired states.” This summer, officials and staff also updated the vision’s titular timeframe from 2036 to 2050.
