One size does not fit all

 

Our delegation in Richmond ltr Tom Garrett Luther Cifers, David Owen

Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, which means that local governments, like Goochland, have only those powers given to them by the state. Each of the 100 delegates to the Virginia General Assembly represents about 86,000 people. Each of the 40 state senators represents approximately 215,758 citizens. Goochland’s population is a little over 28k, so we share our representatives with other counties.

To ensure that open lines of communication exist with our state government representatives: Delegates Tom Garrett 57th District, David Owen, 56^th District, and 10th District Senator Luther Cifers, Goochland meets with them annually.

The latest of these in-depth discussions took place at the Central High School Educational and Cultural Center in Sandy Hook on September 12. Supervisors, school board members, county and school staff, economic development authority members, constitutional officers, Commonwealth’s Attorney John Lumpkins, Jr., Clerk of the Court Amanda Adams, and from the Goochland Electoral Board, Chair Robert Walker and Vice Chair Pamela Johnson also attended.

The county, schools, and economic development authority each prepared a “legislative agenda” outlining their concerns and wants for the GA in advance of the next session, which begins in January.

Following are highlights of the productive conversation.

Johnson said that the 45 day early voting period is too long and puts a terrible strain on local election officials and registrars. Walker opposed the notion of requiring every voting precinct in the state to use the same voting machines.

A small jurisdiction, lumped in with other rural counties, Goochland is at a disadvantage making its voice heard in Richmond.  Northern Virginia and Tidewater have the most representatives in the General Assembly, who propose and pass legislation that favors their constituents but often has different impacts in other parts of the state.

As an example, Garrett cited legislation allowing jurisdictions to levy an additional one cent local sales tax to generate revenue for school construction. This sounds like a great idea. However, Garrett noted, none of the counties in his district have big box stores, as does Henrico, so Goochlanders, take their sales tax dollars to Henrico to help pay for school construction there, while Goochland struggles to find revenue to build our schools.

Cifers lauded Goochland for being farther down the road of economic development than some of the other counties he represents. (Note, this was a few days before the announcement that Eli Lilly will build a $5 billion facility in West Creek.) He said that his job in Richmond “is to keep state government out of your hair.” He believes that governing closest to the people it serves is the best kind.

Owen observed that there will be lots of new faces in Richmond after the November election, but what Goochland needs at the state level is important and pledged to make our voice heard. He, Cifers, and Garret said that it’s their job to ensure that zoning authority remains at the local level forever. They concurred that negotiating competing interests in the General Assembly is a delicate, and often frustrating task.

Common themes

The county, schools and EDA had many common themes, including preservation of local autonomy and rejection of unfunded state mandates, which play havoc with local budgets. Goochland supports the development of fair and sustainable funding formulas for public education, transportation, and constitutional officers, which do not place an undue burden on localities and recognize unique challenges they face.

For instance, the duties of a sheriff in say, Fairfax, which are mostly court related, are quite different from those in Goochland, where our Sheriff’s Office is the primary law enforcement agency. The notion of collective bargaining for government employees was also rejected. “Police officers cannot be allowed to go on strike,” Owen said.

The county opposes any amendment that weakens local control over land use especially related to attainable housing, energy storage, or energy generation. This includes opposition to state zoning mandates about attainable housing and accessory dwelling units that usurp local authority. Attainable housing mandates mean apartments, which increase population and provide no funding mechanisms to build infrastructure to deal with more people like schools and fire-rescue stations.

The county legislative agenda (available in full beginning on page 140 of the September 4 board packet available on the county website goochladva.us) urges support of local choice and local governing authority. This includes the protection of existing local government authority over revenue streams; local land use decisions; procurement; and housing.  The county also supports a robust and sustainable transportation funding framework that effectively addresses the evolving needs of Goochland Couty and communities across the Commonwealth. Goochland is dependent on VDOT for roads and must play a very complicated game of “mother may I” to get anything done at glacial speed.

A meaningful level of support for constitutional officers for tools and technology not leaving localities to make up the difference.

The county also supports legislation to streamline required newspaper advertising for public hearings, notices to give localities the option to use electronic forms of notification.

 

Control of State-owned property

Large parcels of land in the Goochland Courthouse area, two department of corrections facilities, the “men’s farm” and the Virginia Correctional Center for Women, as well as the Reynolds Community College campus, do not pay local real estate tax.

Public utilities in the Courthouse Village area are supplied by the water plant at the men’s farm, and the wastewater treatment plant at the VCCW through agreements with the Department of Corrections. The EDA supports additional state resources for the transfer of both DOC propertied to the county with additional resources allocated to enable initial operations, transfer, and needed site remediation to approve and fund strategies to determine how both facilities should be funded and operated.

The RCC campus, which, according to county land records, has an assessed value of $14.5 million, has been a 90-acre dead zone in the middle of Courthouse Village since before Covid. The dual enrollment program, through which Goochland High School students earn an associate’s degree before graduation, is conducted virtually.

Both the county and EDA support the Commonwealth fully transferring the Reynolds Community College to the exclusive use of Goochland County. Raley said that the property transfer would open many opportunities, perhaps for a combination of public and private market uses. Talks may be in process of turning over the RCC campus to the Reynolds Foundation.

Garrett observed that the Men’s Farm would be a good place for a state park, which would boost local tourism. The chapel and other buildings there have historic significance and should be preserved.

Schools

 

A partial list of items our school division supports:

Creation of a student-weighted funding formula for public education to replace the antiquated funding formula in place with one that prioritizes student needs and recognizes the local characteristics of rural communities like Goochland. The local composite index, which through arithmetic legerdemain has determined that Goochland is on a par with Fairfax in local ability to pay its own way, puts an unfair burden on the county to pay for unfunded state mandates.

Local autonomy in schools to allow for maximin flexibility to meet the unique needs of the community without arbitrary requirements of standardized tests.

Changes to the licensure process to encourage and enable professionals with relevant expertise in career and technical fields to become teachers and prepare students for careers in emerging fields. This includes changes to the Virginia Retirement System to encourage these professionals to transition to teaching career and technical skills to ease the shortage of instructors in these fields.

Incentivization of local, regional, and industry to partner in high-quality work-based learning opportunities to provide meaningful career exploration and pathways for K-12.

Each year the General Assembly deals with thousands of pieces of legislation. The 2026 session will be 60 days long. Go to https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/ to follow the action. Thanks to our delegation for their hard work making Goochland’s voice heard in Richmond.