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One question raised throughout this budget season has been about the financial impact solar projects have had on Charlotte County. As part of the siting agreement for the projects, Charlotte County gets some funding as each hits certain benchmarks in construction and then yearly revenue comes in once they’re activated. Residents have asked why they can’t see more things funded as a result. Where is this money going? The reality is right now, funds from the already approved solar projects are helping the Charlotte County budget stay afloat. 

First off, as a reminder, let’s go through where the real estate tax rate is and how it got here. For the current year, Charlotte County is at 62 cents per $100 of assessed value. Since we just went through a reassessment this year, as ordered by Virginia law, the rate couldn’t stay at 62 cents for the upcoming fiscal year. The reassessment in this case increased the value of homes in most cases 50% or more across Charlotte. Increased value means you would pay more at the current tax rate.

Over the last few months, the county staff and supervisors have been going over the numbers, trying to find a way to both reduce the tax rate and also cover all the expenses as required by local and state law. Here’s where the solar dollars come in. As it stands, if you take out the money provided by the current solar agreements, the county wouldn’t have been able to lower the real estate tax rate below 62 cents. They just didn’t have the money to cover everything else and drop the rate. 

Instead, with the solar fees, that real estate rate was able to go down from the current 62 cents to 41 cents for the coming fiscal year. With the reassessed property values, that means things will pretty much stay the same when tax bills go out this year, instead of a dramatic increase. 

“It was huge, it was 15% of our budget,” said Charlotte County Administrator Dan Witt. “People need to realize that yes, this solar money is holding your taxes down. That money each year (is) helping us balance our budget.” 

Charlotte County budget numbers

So how much is the Charlotte County budget getting from solar agreements? That changes based on the year. Again, each time the projects hit a milestone, such as getting site plan approval or a certificate of public need, money comes to the county. For example, as we’ve detailed in the past, the Randolph solar project is nowhere near ready to go live or even start heavy construction.

However, Charlotte will receive a payment of $500,000 each year through 2027 if the project doesn’t get a certificate of need from the state by March 31. They didn’t get a certificate of need so far this year, so that meant $500,000 coming in. If there’s no certificate of need issued by March 31, 2026, that’s $500,000 to the county. That happens again in 2027 if the certificate of need hasn’t come in by March 31 of that year. 

If the project’s site plan is approved next year, the county will also get $1.375 million from Dominion as a result. 

Each project is the same. Once they reach specific milestones, they pay the county a fee. In the upcoming budget, there’s $3.44 million projected to come in from solar. In 2027, as more projects get their site plans approved, that number jumps to $5.48 million. In 2028, it’s projected to climb to $5.89 million received by Charlotte County. 

Costs keep increasing 

And as costs in nearly every category keep climbing, that solar money is helping Charlotte avoid adding a tax increase. 

“The cost of doing business in virtually every category is going up,” said Charlotte County Board of Supervisors Chairman Walt Bailey. “Our power bills are going up. Fuel bills are going up. We have to pay more for schools.” 

Bailey gave the example that just a few years ago, emergency medical services (EMS) were receiving $100,000 from the county. Now there are three units in service 24 hours a day, with a fourth coming in at times and office staff during the day. This is to handle the number of calls coming in. That’s costing Charlotte now $1.3 million to hire people and pay for repairs and renovations. 

“We don’t have the volunteers anymore and that’s forcing us to take action to make sure the calls are covered,” Bailey said. 

He also pointed to the school budget, which includes a 3% raise and help with insurance. 

“The schools’ insurance went up so much their 3% (raise) was going to be absorbed by their increase in healthcare benefits cost, so the board agreed to give the schools an additional $45,000 that went directly to offsetting (the insurance increase),” Witt said. “

Bailey points out that this isn’t a case where Charlotte County can say no to the pay raise for teachers or cut staff on EMS. If the county wants to recruit business, it needs to maintain strong schools and people need to feel that EMS will be there when there’s a need. 

“We already have the lowest paid teachers in the region,” Bailey said. “Do we want to drop their pay even further? Do we want to cut the staffing on EMS and cause response times to go through the roof and people potentially die? Do we want to cut back on the sheriff’s department or social services? There’s just no fluff in the budget. The increases that we’re seeing are not wish list items, they’re things we basically have to do.” 

Businesses aren’t an alternative yet 

Some residents that oppose solar facilities have argued the county needs to do more to bring in businesses. Both Bailey and Witt say county staff and supervisors are trying, but it takes time. 

“We are exploring options constantly, but we have to face the facts. We don’t have interstate highways. We don’t have teaching universities. We don’t have airports,” Bailey said. “The water and sewer infrastructure is not here. And the workforce, we don’t have that large of a workforce that companies are looking for. We are open for business but it’s very difficult for us to recruit businesses to come here when other jurisdictions that are much larger have huge staffs that can offer all kinds of support and tax breaks. We don’t have the staff to do that.” 

And so at the moment, the funds from solar projects are basically the only option that’s available. 

“If it wasn’t for roughly $3.5 million coming in from Dominion, we would be in a crisis mode and have to go up over 20% on the taxes instead of keeping things neutral,” Bailey added. “Our hands are tied. We just can’t go out and demand this week, this month, this year that industry come here and set up shop and start paying taxes. The burden is made heavier every year by state and federal mandates that we have to be in compliance with.”  

The hope is that as the revenue from those approved solar projects grows, costs of some of these things will drop enough that Charlotte County will be able to start using the solar money to address some of those issues like funding infrastructure repairs. Right now, for county supervisors and staff members, they don’t see any other option. 

“Right now, solar is what the board and I view as our economic tool,” Witt said. “It was the opportunity that we were given.” 

Bailey agreed. 

“It’s the only dance partner that we have,” he said. “Nobody else is stepping up.”