NEWS: City Faces More Debt, Increased Water Rates, Higher School Costs

City Manager’s preliminary budget leaves real estate tax rate unchanged amid slumping assessments

The Williamsburg City Council met last week to discuss preliminary plans for the City’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget. The meeting was held in the new Fire Station and was also attended by City staff, outside advisors, and regional representatives (watch the meeting here). Though real estate assessments are flattening according to the data presented to the City Council, City Manager Andrew Trivette does not anticipate needing to raise the real estate tax rate from the current $0.62 per $100 assessed value.

The FY26 preliminary budget introduced by the City Manager totals a little more than $110M, which would amount to a 16% increase over the City’s adopted FY25 budget. The largest increase in costs comes from the City Manager’s request for more than $39M for capital projects, an increase of $12M (44%) year over year, though even this figure leaves out several projects that City leadership had previously considered.

Difficult decisions on the horizon

Trivette stated in his presentation that the…