The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Virginia Unemployment Claims Spike 71%; Is Gov Spanberger's Virginia Becoming More Expensive?

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Virginia Unemployment Claims Spike 71% Is Gov Spanberger’s Virginia Becoming More Expensive? Mayor: Institutionalize Land Buying For Affordable Housing AlbCo Property Tax $$: $324M (2026) v $201M (2022) AlbCo Property Tax Revenue Spikes 61% In 5 Years ACPS +160 Students & +269 Employees Since 2018 The Most Important 3 Minutes Of News Today (2/18/26) Need CVille Office & Commercial Space, Contact Jerry Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com. #charlottesville #albemarlecounty #politics

Hammer that like button. Give me that thumbs up when we have the... Welcome to the I Love Seville Show, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us. It is Wednesday, hump day in downtown Charlottesville. We are less than two miles from the University of Virginia, walking distance to the University of Virginia. We are, what, about an hour away from the capital of Virginia,

where the General Assembly appears to be making things much more unaffordable and expensive for Virginians. Is Abigail Spamberger's Virginia a cut? Commonwealth where Virginians have less money in their pockets. I'm going to ask that question today on the program. How about a little concerning headwind? Virginians are filing for unemployment at an aggressive rate. Ladies and gentlemen, unemployment claims jumped 71% in the Commonwealth earlier this month, and that does not include layoffs from Amazon, which is shuddering grocery stores, five of them in northern Virginia. This world we live in where the economy seems to be healthy

and strong and moving forward is a smoke-and-mirered economy where Main Street and Market Street and Preston Avenue and Route 29 and Rose Hill Drive and West Main are suggesting otherwise. Yes, the artificial intelligence, the AI economy is booming, as momentum, as tailwinds. But how about the other sectors? We'll talk about that on the program today. We'll try to localize it on the show. We're going to talk real estate property tax collection on the show. What are my favorite and least favorite topics?

There's a viewer and listener that I have a lot of respect for. I think she's come on the program once. The I Love Seville Network once. That's Carly Wagner, smart person. reasonable person, practical person, an engineer by trade, Carly Wagner. She is an engineer by trade. I believe her husband is as well. And they, Carly Wagner, highlighted the, this is wild to me.

Property taxes in Al Morrow County, very succinctly positioned from fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 26 in the adopted budget that's being a kicker. around right now. In 2022, fiscal year, property tax collection, 201 million, 201. In fiscal year, 26, this adopted budget property tax collection, $324 million. Over a five-year period of time, Almore County is collected 63% incremental dollars in property taxes. Sixty-three percent more. I asked the question, very straightforwardly, where does all the tax money go? Why are tax payers taking it where the sun don't shine? I was going to use a different phrase.

I'm reminded often by my wife that a lot of kids watch this show. I am very fond of graphic language in four-letter words, so I have to show tremendous restraint on this program. why are tax payers being pounded in the I'm sorry the tukas the tukas can I say tukes pounded in the tukas I don't think anyone object to using tuchus

okay tukas is that Yiddish yeah why are they getting kicked in the tukas and when do taxpayers say enough already we'll have that conversation on today's show how about this little tidbit in one of the comments sections of the I Love Seville Network from newly minted Almaro County Republican Committee Chairman Philip Reese.

He's a friend of the program, and Philip Reese is going to join us on the show. Philip, I think we decided, I'm looking at my calendar here, I'd be lost without my mind. Yes, Thursday, February 26, Philip Reese, the entrepreneur, the family man has a gaggle of children. Is it three or four, Philip? They're in Almara County Public Schools. He will join us on Thursday, February 26. He publishes this tidbit on the I Love Seville Network earlier today. Our content is going viral yet again.

You may want to frame me differently. I think I've moved. That's on me, less on you. Almore County Public Schools, ladies and gentlemen, since 2018, is up 160 students from a headcount standpoint since 2018. And that same period of time, Almore County Schools, is up 269 employees. You increase 160 students with your student body. But at the same time, your head count jumps 269 paid employees.

Make it make sense. Make the math make sense because that math ain't math it for me. I mean, unless you argue that they were seriously under staff before. but since we doubt that to be the case, it has to be that for whatever reason, they're hiring a lot of people. Philip Priest is watching the program right now. He says three kids in Amar County Public Schools.

He says, I have one entering kindergarten next year, and the oldest is in eighth grade. So this guy has got Almore County Public Schools. He and his wife are going to be dealing with Almore County Public Schools for, if my math is correct, 13 more, get you get ready, Philip. You've got 13 more years of this. Head pounding for the Reese family.

We'll talk about that on the program today. I want to highlight on the show, Juan Diego Wade at a city council meeting. Just this boggles my mind. They were discussing what to do with the $10 million budget surplus. What should we do with $10 million extra dollars in Charlottesville, Virginia? I mean, $10 million in Charlottesville, Virginia,

it's not we've got to figure out a way to get the money back to the taxpayers. It's figure out a way how to spend that money, right? And the only person, the only Charlottesvillian, the only individual, because Almoreal counties and Central Virginians should speak in the public portion of council beatings. because this impacts you dramatically. Interestingly, the only human to speak in the public portion of this recent council meeting about the 10 million budget surplus was the very mentally stable and lucid Nakaya Walker.

Very mentally stable and lucid Nakaya Walker. And Nakaya Walker, some of what she said, I will relay to you the viewer and listener. And the mentally lucid and stable Nakaya Walker then had Mayor Juan Diego Wade respond to her public comments. This is all on the record. All on the record. Respond to her comments. And Mayor Wade, the two-term mayor, the two-term counselor, has said, we need to institutionalize land acquisition in the city of Charlottesville specifically for affordable housing. Judah Wickhauer and I immediately we were a gas.

We were, what? Because we said, Mayor Wade, didn't Charlottesville City allocate $6.2 million of taxpayer resources to purchase a 27,000 square foot office building on Holiday Drive? And aren't we learning because of the I Love Seville Network, the water cooler of content and conversation, in Charlestville and Central Virginia, frankly, the media platform of most merit and reach in the region, that this 27,000 square foot, $6.2 million purchase is now going to cost at minimum. At minimum, ladies and gentlemen, an additional $5 million,

and will not come online for probably three years from today. Why would we institutionalize the practice of, of taking a bag of money, buying some kerosene from Tiger Fuel, taking the bag of money that is our money, taxpayer monies, not the mayor's money, not the city money, not council money, getting that bag of money, dousing it in kerosene, taking out a zippo, I loved zippo lighters. I used to have a collection of zippo lighters as I was a kid.

If you're watching this program and you had any pyro tendencies, put your hand in the air. God, I love fire. I still am very enchanted by fire. And then taking that Zippo and just lighting the money on fire. It's akin to what Stefan Friedman has done with restaurants of late. We'll talk about that on today's program. I want to show you a rendering of this Cherry Avenue grocery store.

Do I call it a joint venture, John Blair? Do I call it a joint venture, Deep Throat? This wooded properties, joint venture with Sonshon Mathan and Piedmont Housing Alliance in the city of Charlottesville. I mean, goodness gracious, the counselors, ladies and gentlemen, on Monday, February 2nd allocated $700,000 from the Capital Improvement Program contingency fund to help close the gap on this rendering on the corner of Cherry Avenue and Ruff. Ridge, the site of the former Kim's grocery store, the IGA, across from Tonsler Park. Do you have that rendering you can put on screen? Give them a little razzle of that rendering. It's a beautiful rendering. BRW Architects. This is courtesy of BRW Architects. Is that on screen? Look at the screen. You're going from a rundown slum of a grocery store to the IGA, the former Kim's

market. Formerly it was the home of a subcontractor for the University of Virginia, and this subcontractor that was based in the Shenandoah Valley that did construction work at UVA on grounds, used the Kim's Market and the IGA parking lot and falling down building as a parking lot for its work trucks to save money on gasoline, to save time with its employees driving. to and from the valley when it was doing work on grounds at UVA. It was a brilliant move. Now the city council of Charlottesville has allocated your money, all our money, taxpayer money. It's not the council's money. To close a funding gap here, because goodness, gracious, great balls of fire in 2026,

we need a grocery store in a food desert. And that grocery store is going to be run by residents of Fifeville who have zero experience in the great. grocery business and these residents of Fifeville are going to compete with Kroger and and Harris Teeter and Food Lion and Giant and Whole Foods in the grocery wars. And these residents of Fifeville with their significant institutional knowledge and grocery experience will one day win the battle of deeply pocketed Jeff Bezos and Whole Foods, who is literally closing grocery stores in Northern Virginia right now to the tune of five of them. And in over-grocery Charlottesville market, but of course we need a grocery store on

FIFO. We'll talk about that on the program today. We're locked and loaded and I'm fired up. How about some love for one of our partners? Absolutely phenomenal human beings. I think we're going to see them tomorrow, are we not? We are. John Vermillion and Andrew Vermillion. We should take one of those photos, the steel photos that have,

that have had significant engagement of late and work those into the first lot of commercial advertising on this show. John and Andrew Vermillion. Can we put that on the punch list? John and Andrew Vermillion are honest, they're transparent, they're communicative, they are knowledgeable,

and Charlottesville Sanitary Supply is approaching its 62nd birthday on East High Street. This business has been run by three-jointed, generations of Vermilion family members, and the Vermilions have lived in Almorel County for five generations. If you want to support a business that is just salt of the earth, it's Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. They have a fabulous e-commerce website that's in you, Charlestfulsanitary Supply.com, where anything you purchase on that website, which is priced below the big box stores, is delivered on your doorstep the same day at price points that beat the big box.

stores. There's no reasons to not purchase anything sanitary, anything cleaning at any other place but Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. They also have a sister company that's called Charlottesville Swimming Pool Company online at Charlottesville Swimming Pool Company.com that your conciergeers are consulted for anything swimming pool related. We use it at our Charlottesville Swimming Pool Company at our house. Great guys. Two shot, Judah Wickhauer. I think we got a lot of ammunition today on the water cooler of content and conversation. And it's ammunition on today's program that's been provided by the viewer and listener, which is what we want to crowdsource content.

We just want to be the water cooler. We want the content to come from you. We will vet and verify the content. And once the relationship is in place of trust with our content providers, we will extend more leeway and leash to the content providers to help shape future shows. two of the key content providers on today's program, Carly Wagner and Philip Reese, are humans, people that I know firsthand, that I've vetted and verified as authentic and honest and knowledgeable and informed.

They are real people, and they're providing content that is going to shape today's show. So thank you to Carly and Philip. I want to pontificate and reflect on the John McGuire interview from yesterday, What struck you from the congressman, the United States congressman, who joined us in person in the studio? You know, I have to say that I often am a victim of perception. Perception is not always reality. My perception of John McGuire was tinged, if you will, by, by Reddit threads, by, you know, hearing...

The photo that we posted on the I Love Seville Network, where we said he was wearing an expensive suit with Italian loafers while trying to cut college students, chop snow plow, snow shovel college students out of the ice. To some extent. But I think more so, you know, just a lot of... What do you call it? Passive...

Animosity? passive, no, I mean, in my... In my case, in my case, passive reading. You know, I don't necessarily agree with what, you know, people say about someone when I'm reading comments and whatnot. But you are still, you know, your perception is still colored by the things that you read, even if you're not consciously agreeing with them. And so I think my perception of Congressman McGuire, was definitely colored by a lot of this.

Oh, you know, he doesn't do town halls. He doesn't want to, he doesn't answer his phone. He doesn't want to, he doesn't care about us. He doesn't want to. And meeting him, having him on the show, I learned, you know, a little bit more about who he is as a person. Obviously, you know, half an hour, 45 minutes with him isn't enough time to, you know, become bosom buddies or anything. but I think I have a... With some buddies.

I think I have a better, you know, a better understanding of who he is as a person, what his desire is as a Congress person. And where he stands on, you know, on obviously some of the subjects that we talked about. And I've got a greater appreciation for him as a person, as a Congressperson. And I don't think this actually came up in the interview. But us talking before and after the show, I also gained a bit of a bit more of understanding as to why he's not jumping out of a seat to participate in a bunch of town hall meetings in central Virginia. I mean, he did a meet and greet at Steve Harvey's first free coffee in the Hollymead Town Center. And he was greeted by three dozen protesters.

I saw the video yesterday that were singing protest songs outside of First Free Coffee while trying to make their presence known within the windows of First Free Coffee. Yeah, it really casts a very different light on people saying, you know, that he doesn't do town halls. It casts the light that those people are not being honest, that they're essentially, you know, we want this guy to come out so that we can boo him. so that we can sing. It's called perception manipulation, and they're trying to peer pressure McGuire

into town halls so they can antagonize him and make him look bad within legacy media that is starving for any surface level content. I hope Brittany and John McGuire's campaign, here's what I just said. He's being peer-pressured and bullied through social media. It's a strategic campaign

that is trying to aggressively through bullying tactics, get him to show his face in Almore and Charlottesville, for then those same people to galvanize, organize, and strategize against him, for then the legacy media that is employing 22 and 23-year-olds to then go and cover the story because it's easy, low-hanging fruit,

which in turn makes the congressman look bad. He's in a no-win situation. I will say this. He promised he would be here yesterday. He showed up here yesterday. He showed up early. He spent 35 to 40 minutes with me answering questions, including questions that were very straightforward,

his relationship with Trump, the willingness for congressmen and representatives and senators to speak out against Trump, despite Trumponian backlash, the role of ICE in America, and whether ICE agents should be held accountable for what I call murders in Minneapolis. I asked them if they are quantified as murders or deaths or loss of life, how he would describe them.

He answered that question as well. We talked about affordability. We ran the gambit, and he answered them. And then at the end of the interview, he said, why don't we talk about the photo you posted, Jerry Miller, where you were basically making fun of me on social media for wearing a suit while shoveling teenage college students out of an iced out parking space,

and how I got to that point, made sure and very respectful yet clear terms to highlight that it was not Italian loafers, like I initially described them. I kind of knew that, John, but they were cowboy boots instead, and that the Italian expensive suit was instead off the rack of Joseph A. Bank, and perhaps why it did not fit most perfectly. Okay? So I appreciate him.

As do I. For coming on the program, and I look forward to other interviews. And I caveat by saying this. Tom Perriello. Will you now rise to the occasion, Tom Perriello, and come on the I Love Seville show as your competition John McGuire has done? It's one thing, Tom Perriello,

for you to offer sound bites in front of Indivisible Charlottesville, and it's another thing, Tom Periello, for you to come and sit in this studio and do long-form content where we can really get into the meat and potatoes of policy, of protests, of red tape, and frankly, the headwinds Virginians and the 5th District are facing in 2026. So Tom Perriello, now I will utilize our influence in our platform to pressure you to come onto the I Love Cbo show. First, I should respectfully ask him,

Tom Periello, I'm respectfully asking you, sir, to come on the show. If it's crickets, we will you know pick up the pace and tempo a little bit a couple of programming notes we're working on an interview with larry sabido wow uh maybe uva star professor ken ellsigan larry sabbado so larry sabbado soon on the i love sevo show we'll keep you posted on that i love to give some attention to stanley martin holmes stanley martin holmes is dedicated to building homes that cater to each person's unique needs and lifestyles stanley martin holmes has high quality, single family homes, townhomes, and condominiums, which are designed and constructed with innovative techniques that ensure exceptional efficiency and aesthetic appeal. Stanley Martin Holmes,

design features and technology utilized to enhance you, your living experience in your home, not just today, but for years to come. Stanley Martin Holmes, a proud partner of the I Love Seville Show. Judah, a headline that I found extremely concerning that all Virginia should find concerning. Put the headline on screen. Virginia unemployment claims jumped 71% this month. 71% unemployment claims spite sharply this month. With more unemployment claims ahead,

because Amazon has announced that it's going to lay off 700 employees across five grocery stores in April and northern Virginia. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, Virginia Works, which is the state workforce development agency, said that the Commonwealth received 4,592 unemployment claims last week, a 71% spike from the previous week when it received about 2,300 fewer initial claims for jobless benefits. The level of claims is up 43% percent.

From the same week a year earlier. Yeah. We have this economy. Let's first talk macro. We have this economy. And in this economy, we see joblessness shrinking. At least that's the national headlines. And we see a economy that is driven by AI, by artificial intelligence.

and I'm no economist, I'm just a purveyor and digester of news. It would seem to me that an economy that's built around artificial intelligence momentum is an economy that is one that is fragile. I asked John McGuire about artificial intelligence and how it applies to our economy, and if we're being smoke and mirrored by legacy and old, old school media that says this economy is doing really well. I disagreed with his answer. His answer yesterday was, I bet you at one time when the locomotive was first announced, when trains were first announced, that everyone in America was really scared because the locomotive was going to

transform and revolutionize the country. And then he said, I bet you at one time when trucking, when trucking and transportation, when that really gained a foothold in America, that Americans were really concerned and worry. The difference, if I had more time yesterday with John McGuire, and according to his comms person, I thought Brittany, his comms person was fantastic. The difference is artificial intelligence is going to yield the replacement of human capital. It's going to cannibalize a lot of people across blue collar and white collar jobs. And I think we're starting to really see that. You see jobless claims going up.

You see businesses from the service industry to kiosks and online ordering and app ordering, to big purveyors of business. I mean, I was watching an interview with JLL, one of the top, leasing titans, commercial leasing titans in the country and how artificial intelligence is very quickly and aggressively revolutionizing

commercial real estate. I have friends that we play squash, that I play squash with, that are fourth years at the University of Virginia that are entering the workforce that are trepid of their job futures.

And they've indicated to me, these are young men that are going to graduate in May this year from the University of Virginia. Many of them with McIntyre School of Commerce degrees. A lot of people don't realize this. Mark Allen, the head squash coach at the University of Virginia, his women's squash team and his men's squash team have the highest GPAs in the athletic department. The squash players at UVA, men and women, collectively combine. You're talking some of the smartest, if not the smartest athletes in all the University of Virginia. A lot of them on finance track.

curriculums. And they've indicated a lot of them to us that the job line of work they're going into is aggressively being cannibalized by artificial intelligence. And what the technology is able to do, the tech stack is able to do, is something that would take them in some cases like putting a deck together, weeks where the AI once prompted correctly and organized and strategized correctly up front. And as you've indicated on the show, it takes a while to get there. You know, it's a learning curve. but once those prompts are there, those same decks can be done in minutes, literally provided in minutes.

What these students are going to come into Wall Street and the workforce, they're expected to do in weeks while making six figures. So I am not buying what legacy media is selling, and now I want to try to localize it to Virginia. You, you, Karen, you want to jump in? This is usually when you have beef with what I have to say with artificial intelligence. It's not that

I have a beef. I think the problem is that the problem is that it's a double-edged sword and I think there's a lot of short-sighted action taking place in terms of like you're talking about

these text act guys. I was just, I actually just saw something recently about that and the problem with that assumption and I'm not saying it's a problem with your assumption. It's a problem with the assumption that just because AI can do this stuff at a much faster clip, people think that it can just take over, you know, all these jobs. And that's true in a lot of

different cases, a lot of different job environments. And the fact of the matter is it, and I reiterate this over and over again, AI as it is now, is not AI, it's LLMs, it's ways of parsing information and outputting a speedy response, and it requires someone who can use that tool. For instance, with the tech stacks, it may be able to output all this information, this tech stack, much faster than a, you know, a recently graduated business student could. However, it will always need someone to vet it, double check it. knows enough to be able to vet it, to double check it, because we're not just talking about a simple app that you pull up on your phone and...

We're not talking chat, GBT, or Jeb and I that's saying, where can I find the cheapest tacos in Charlottesville? We're talking about something that's extremely complex, but I will jump in here, I apologize for interrupting you, the human capital needed to double check and vet the 400-page deck that's created by artificial intelligence is much less human capital than the human capital needed to create that 400-page deck from scratch. Like I said, very, very short-sighted, because that's not the only concern. As you said, there's far more involved than just asking ChatGPT to write you a paragraph. 100%.

100%. But respectfully, go ahead. And the people that are taking, the people that are doing the jobs of checking the code of, you know, those people are not always going to stay in those jobs. Those people take higher up jobs and take the place of the people that were above them. And those people move up and do other spots. And if you start cannibalizing your own system because you think one portion of it requires far less people, eventually you're going to run into a problem where you don't have this staircase of people that know enough to do the job above them. Literally what Deep Throat is talking about here.

I'm going to get to Deep Throat's comments here. Please do. Yeah, I will get to, he works in finance. I'm going to get to Deep Throat's comments on a matter of a moment. I want to also respectfully push back while also trying to stay online because I have a very important 145 phone call, very important 215 phone call as well. the technology, the artificial intelligence is at its early stage, its infancy, and as it matures from infancy and adolescence, if you may, through its kindergarten, first grade, elementary age years,

into middle school and to high school, that technology is going to become more robust, more accurate, more dynamic, and even more likely to replace human capital. We're in agreement with that. It's always going to need someone. who can use the tool. Okay. Okay, you and I...

I understand what you're saying, and I don't disagree with you. It is going to happen that companies... We need to get... Are short-sighted enough, again, short-sighted enough to start cannibalizing their own... Well, that's what deep-throat mentions here. I'll get to Deep Throat's comments here.

As we expand our wings with this program, I've even given some thought to potentially renaming the I-Live-Seville show. It will still be the I-Live-Seville network with a focus on Charlesville-Almore and Central Virginia. But if you haven't... The AI Love Seville Show? If you haven't realized that's not a funny joke, Judith.

That's a dad joke. Only you are laughing there, but I do appreciate the dad jokes for me. I do love laughing at my own jokes. You are an absolute expert at laughing in drone jokes. I think the community also wants to know you use the term bosom buddies earlier in the show. Who are your bosom buddies?

Wait, did I use that? Yeah, as it applies to John McGuire. I didn't have an opportunity to become a bosom buddy with him. Who are my bosom buddies? He needs a bosom buddies. buddy. Ladies, he's single and ready to mingle. He needs a bosom buddy over here. All right, I'm going to get to Deep Throat's comments here. Okay. But as we expand the content verticals on this show, perhaps we reach out to somebody at the University of Virginia that's very much enriched in technology and artificial intelligence

and have them crystal ball what the future is for Charlottesville and Almaro and beyond. Just an idea. Deep Throat says this. Let me give you an up, put his photo on screen. Let me give you an observation about junior finance people. I do want to highlight that. This is Deep Throat's world. Had a good conversation with Deep Throat yesterday as it pertains to some of his work in Venezuela without revealing too

many details there. He says, let me give you an observation about junior finance people. Years ago, there was a move to use junior outsourcing. His firm used a company in Sri Lanka. They had teams of people who were much cheaper but with reasonable skills to do a lot

of the junior analyst gut work. The problem was we realized quickly that where did our next generation of senior people come from? We realized that a lot of these tasks were not just about delivering value

for the company at the lowest cost, but also a form of training for the next generation of senior people. Same is very true for big law. Definitely going to take out a lot of jobs, but maybe not as many as you would think if it were a question of instant cost optimization.

I will push back respectfully with deep throat, who he knows I have tremendous respect for, a publicly traded company, it's about profits for shared holders today. And a publicly traded company who's trying to deliver profits for shareholders today cannot look, or cannot's the wrong word, is unwilling to look that far down the timeline

of not right of passageing junior associate, inter-senior associates, basically a fraternity pledging, a fraternity pledging experience, right? And they just want profits for stockholders today. Right. Okay. Examples of this are abundant. I mean, goodness gracious, let's take what's happening with Amazon. Let's take what's happening with its grocery store business.

700 employees laying off in northern Virginia is a lot of this is being automated. Let's take what Bezos is doing with the Washington Post. okay now a lot of that is is is not uh directly specific to artificial intelligence Bezos was hemorrhaging money at the Washington post but I think they're good parallels yeah there's examples to be made there now we have a lot of news that we want to get to the unemployment spike of 71% as we segue into Governor Abigail Spamberger governor Abigail Spamberg it's it's you know we're going to ask you to come on the programs Governor Spamberger.

Abigail Spamberger, I think I think you should be coming on the program. We'll respectfully reach out to you and then, and you know, we'll also pick up the pace and tempo as well with Governor Spamberger. I'd love to hear what she has to think about all of the tax bills that are going to be coming across

her table, if they haven't already. 50 plus tax bills, General Assembly is considering all Democrats. We asked the question, Governor Spamberger's Virginia, is it becoming more expensive for you, Judah? More expensive for me, more expensive for you, you, you, you, and Jenny and Joe in the back. Because it certainly appears to me that Virginia, the Commonwealth in 2026, has become increasingly more expensive.

How many of you opened up your Dominion energy bills? How many of you are grabbed by the short and curleys? by a monopolistic, monopolistic, dominion energy, who is the funder of all political, or most political campaigns. The Dominion Energy chief executive officer is on the UVA Board of Visitors for not one, but a second rodeo, appointed by Abigail Spanberger, the Dominion CEO to the UVA Board of Visitors. Dominions behind the scenes influence in clout,

to maintain utility increases in a monopoly type setting should be front and center of every political candidate, every politician's initiatives, endeavors, efforts should be diminishing the monopolistic control of dominion. I was blown away when I saw just what I was paying for the distribution service. So like, you know, they're given the rundown and I see, okay, Here's the stuff for the actual, the actual, actual, actual electricity that I use. And, you know, the obviously other things, like the state consumption tax, the Charlottesville City utility tax.

But at the very top was distribution service. And I had to look it up, like, what is this? Because it was easily, I think, like, between a quarter and a third of my monthly bill. I was like, wait a minute. what? Because that's not, that's not paying for the electricity that I used. That's not paying for, I mean, there's, there's all kinds of stuff that they have on here, but I could not believe how much just the distribution service charge was. How many people are taking it in the tookus when it comes to Dominion? Now, Dominion's going to say this. See, Dominion's smart. Dominion's got all that money.

Dominion's got all that dry back, all that dry powder. And Dominion's got all that, cloud, it's it's it's it's curried, it's earned, it's cornered with politicians because it's fun in a lot of these campaigns, right? Dominion, Dominion is going to say this. It was a generational ice and snowstorm in Virginia. They were single digits. It was generally generationally uncommon and freezing and cold. Of course your electric bill is higher. And a chorus of people will raise their voices to say, no, I did not spend, I did not use any more electricity than I did the previous month. Anyone find it curious that Abigail Spamberger,

who ran on a platform, who campaigned on, if there was one word that embodied Spamberger's platform and campaign, it was affordability. Her campaign was affordability for Virginians and also the anti-Donald Trump movement. That was Spamberger's campaign. Yet the CEO of Dominion is her first appointment to the UVA Board of Visitors, and Dominions also spike in rates for Virginians coming out of a historically generational snowstorm.

Our electric bill was $700. I believe it. Okay, $700. Viewers and listeners, no joke. Okay. So I'm going to ask you this question, Governor Spamberger's Virginia. Are we facing one in 2026 that's about to be more expensive? And what do we do about that?

And that's a perfect segue in transition to Carly Wagner. And property taxes, right? You got that on screen? Not yet. We got a lower third we can put on screen. Carly Wagner, you're getting some props on the program. I want to, once you get that lower third on screen, I love to get Carly Wagner some props with her photo on screen.

And we also need to get the screenshot of the content that you, she posted on the I Love Seville Network on screen. So you let me know so I can give the viewers and listeners some encouragement to look at the screen. Can we get the screenshot of what she posted on screen first? Yeah. And then also the lower third. Also the lower third?

Well, we have a lower third for Al Morrow County in these taxes that we can rotate, right? There's two lower thirds tied to this. And then Carly's screenshot? Which one you want first? This one? Screenshot? No, I know.

Okay. Yeah. I meant, because you mentioned putting her up. Yeah. All right. Here's the screenshot. So look at the screen. Can the viewers and listeners read what's on screen here,

or is it too tiny for them to read? I'm not watching it where they are. Okay, I'll do it on here. That's fair. That's too shay. That's fair. You've got a massive Mac in front of you that's very easy to read, and you're sitting right in front of it.

It would be very different than if they were looking at it on an iPhone. Yeah, that's fair. All right. Oh, they can read it. Look at the screen. Look at the screen. Keep it on screen. Carly. Viewers and listeners, look at the screen. Look at the screen for CWags. The content from CWags right there. Fiscal year 2022, property tax revenue, Almaro County, $201 million. $202 was an increase of, you keep it back on screen. The Carly screenshot.

It's up there. Okay, okay. $201 million in 2020. 21, right? Yeah. Physical year, oh, excuse me. 2022. Fiscal year 2022, thank you, Judah. Physical year 2022,

201 million tax revenue collected from property. Fiscal year 2020, property tax revenue collection, 24 million. Fiscal year, 2024, property tax revenue collection, 271 million. Fiscal year 2025,

property tax revenue collection, 288 million. In fiscal year, 2026, adopted budget property tax revenue 3 and 24 million carly's an engineer by trade she's a smart person no doubt super smart person some basic math juda and i double check this juda keeping me in check over here from fiscal year 22 to fiscal year 2026 we see a spike of 61 percent an increase of 61% 2021 to 26 from 20 yeah thank you okay we see a spike of 61% right yeah

then I'm just, you know, I'm just a regular old guy. I'm just a regular old guy that has a microphone and a platform that likes to ask questions. Just a regular old guy. Okay. Rarely the smartest person in the room. Neither am I. Rarely the smartest person in the room. Often the most connected person in the room, at least regionally,

when it's tied to who I can ask questions or get information. from or figure out a problem. That's kind of, you know, the value proposition of working alongside our firm. The other questions that we're asking is, you know, where does all the tax money go, Judah? Where does all the tax money go, Judah? You had, in fiscal year 2022, $201 million. In fiscal year 26, $324 million. Where's all the tax money go? Second question, you know, when did the taxpayers Almore County say, stop sticking it in my tocus. Is that not fair? When we say enough already, right? Then I asked those questions, right? And then Philip Reese, who's a real smart man, real smart guy, Philip Reese, former, former defense contractor, Philip Reese, now the chairperson of the Almore County

Republican Committee. He's a small business owner, owns an escape room locally. Philip Reese, smart guy, level-headed, reasonable guy. Joining us on the program a week from tomorrow, the I Love Seville shows. It's got three kids in Amar County. Let's let's let's let's put the next lower third on screen. You got three lower thirds one tie two to tie to real estate taxes and one tie to schools. Philip Reese response to my comment really gets me thinking Philip you did got me thinking this more. He says and and he's relaying an information a tidbit from the Crozee Gazette and he has since texted me during the show that he's double checked and triple check this statistic that it's a hundred percent accurate. In 2018

Alabama County Public Schools has only added 160 students to its enrollment. But in that same time, Almore County Public Schools has added 269 employees. That is financially unstable. The Board of Supervisors and School Board need to focus on their spending problem so that Albor residents can experience lower taxes. We've got to get to work to do what is right,

by the people. So I'm going to put it in a nutshell, and then I'm going to offer my commentary, then Judah, you jump in, then viewers and listeners, you jump in with commentary of your own. And then this is just a bunch of people at the water cooler of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which just happens to be this talk show. We're at the water cooler. We're shooting the shit, right? Darn it! Or shooting the bull. In 2018, since 2018, Amarrow County, public schools, enrollment has jumped 160 Bambinos, 160

Rodegrads. Let's hope they're not true in and skipping school and puff, puff passing behind the trash canisters. Let's hope they're learning. That's a topic for another day. 160 kids since 2018, yet Amar County public schools, 269 employees. That's a head scratcher. If you only go up 160 Bambinos, but you need 269 paid humans additionally.

Make that math math, right? Yeah. I then say this, I say this as we're getting comments on the feed. And those comments on the feed, one of them came from George Mitchie. And George Mitchie really had me head scratching. George Mitchie says on the I Love Seville Network, do you have other fairer means of funding public schools and public works that are not tied to real estate property tax collection?

And I respond to George Mitchie by saying this. And George Mitchie, you're welcome to come on the program. You're a known commodity locally, George Mitchie. We disagree politically, but we can disagree politically in a golden rule type of way where we can have a bourbon over here and agree to disagree. I respond to George Mitchie by saying, George, when jurisdictions overtax personal property and overtax real estate, that gentrifies communities at a rapid rate.

And as a result, families who attend public schools are often replaced with families who attend private schools because it's more expensive to live here. that means public school enrollment drops, which means funding for public schools falls because said funding is tied to enrollment numbers. It's a dangerously aggressive domino effect. Then I encourage George Mitchie to check out Weldon Cooper's data on falling public school enrollment in our region. And it's not a pretty picture. I then shared the link in the comment section of my personal Facebook page where Carly Wagner's post was posted. follow me on Facebook. My personal

page is booming in engagement and popularity. You should follow my page. It's basically become the newspaper of the region. You look at the link from Weldon Cooper and you see data and in 2019 the projected public school enrollment in the Commonwealth of Virginia,

2019, projected enrollment was $1,262 million. But they found out by the year 2020, that projection was off by a fair amount. A million 224,000 was the actual enrollment. And that trend line continues since the pandemic to drop where the projected trend line was posted. So that shows us the following, okay? And it's a number of factors.

I'm not just going to associate this with rising real estate taxes. I think that is Robert Liberty's. a buckshot in the shotgun bullet. It's not the actual reason, the one main reason. I think there are a number of reasons of why public school enrollment is dropping in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I'm going to rattle off a few of them for you, okay? And this is coming from a man who is married to a woman who's phenomenal and whose

household is choosing to put their second grader in a private school that's basically $25,000 for the second grade and who's going to do the same for their three-year-old once he gets to kindergarten. So at that point, you're going to have a couple of Miller-Bambinos, these damn little terrorists that we love so dangerous, so much, to the tune of 50K for elementary school

per year. I think public school enrollment in the Commonwealth of Virginia is dropping for a number of reasons. One, I think the quality of education, this is really going to get me in hot water. This is really, really going to get me in hot water, but this is why you watch the show. I think the quality of education

for public schools post-pandemic is a watered-down version of its former self. Public school education is not as strong as it was in 2019 before COVID. The test scores can back that up. The SOL scores back that up. Reading, writing, arithmetic, public schools are not performing at the same clip. One reason. Second reason, I think Virginians are exactly. with the politicization of public school education. There's Virginians that are just flabbergasted with how politics, how gender identity, sexuality, gender fluidity,

has infiltrated public school education. And that frustration has created a disenfranchise, disenchanted parent base that is either choosing to homeschool their kids or rub two nickels together and hope it turns into a quarter

to afford private school tuition. Other reasons I think this is happening. Virginia, from pre-COVID till now, has become much more expensive. And as it's become much more expensive, and as Virginia has been one of the hotbeds, for digital nomads who are able to work from internet service providers while maintaining their high dollar big money salary

with their firm at a major metropolitan area. You got people all over Almar and all over Charlottesville that are working in their tidy whiteys and their BVDs and their Victoria Secrets and their bathrobes sitting in their basements while tethered to Ting Fiber Internet earning $700,000 out of their basement while sending their kids to private school instead of public school. Virginia is more expensive in the people that can afford to live in Virginia,

including pockets like Almore County and Charlottesville, in particular, Northern Virginia. Another example are the ones that are prioritizing private school education or public school education. And as enrollment is falling, funding is becoming an impact, is being impacted. And as enrollment falls and funding is impacted, you have public schools with less resources.

That's another reason. How about this one? is really going to piss some people up. I'm on fire right now. Go ahead. I'll quickly interject that maybe they don't have less resources because, look, they're hiring 269 employees while only gaining 160 students. That tells me they're spending a lot of money that potentially doesn't need to be spent. Well, 60% of Al-Morrow County's budget, Al-Morrow County's budget is public schools. Yeah. And if Al-Morrow County's budget is fueled by tax revenue collection tied to real estate. And we just showed that tax revenue

collection tied to real estate over the last five years has spiked 61%. Of course, the school board and superintendent Dr. Matthew Haas will say MFers, mother, you know what, you're going to maintain that 60% ratio. Dr. Haas and the school board will never say we want increases tied to what was spent last year or what was allocated last year with our school system, they will always see, they're smart. Dr. Haas, smart guy. He's got to line them pockets. Then school board members got to line them pockets. They just gave themselves a race.

Them lie to themselves a race. Them lie to lie. They've got to line them pockets, right? And they're going to say, we've got to maintain that 60% percentage, that 60% ratio, that money allocated from the budget to us to schools. We don't want the public to do this based on the number that was allocated to us last year for, the number that was allocated to us last year, or this year, we want that number to always be 60% of tax collections come to us.

That is like, that is the greatest trick of them all. The greatest trick of them all is bamboozling the taxpayer with the percentage of the budget allocated to the school system as opposed to the actual number in the media. Because if you just keep to the 60%, the average Joe and the average Jennifer is unsophisticated, unless one key thing, how they gain the sophistication and the knowledge, Judah,

it's by watching the I Love Seville show, is by watching this platform and listening to this platform. Because we'll explain to the viewer and listener that's watching, all they're doing is pushing a percentage every year of the budget that should be allocated to us, as opposed to clawing through the smoke and mirrors and saying it should be an incremental increase on a number and not a percentage of the overall budget.

And that's how we've gotten to where we are today. And I also want to add of what is driving the decrease or the fall of public school enrollment. As the Terry McCullough's of the world explain that parents should not be involved in their education. as the the Shannon Gillikins of the world of the Charlottesville Teacher Union and the Mary McEntires of the world for Almoreau County's teacher union, Shannon Gilliken, Charlottesville Teacher Union, as they push the unionization of staff and workers, those staff and workers need more money

because they're collective bargaining and they're working in cahoots together to smart for them. They should be doing that. They should be paid more. I've never said that teachers should be paid less. They should be paid more. They're superheroes. But as they get more, right?

Resources are pulled away from the kids. And that's when you see a student teacher ratio bloat from, say, like a 20 to 1 to like a 26 to 1. Do more with less. That's a master class in what's happening around here. Ladies and gentlemen. Master class. I want to thank Carly Wagner and Philip Reese. Carly Wagner and Philip Reese for, do you have a Philip Reese photo?

I don't have it in here, but I can get a Philip Reese photo. Philip Reese says, today the Board of Supervisors is getting a presentation on the bond issuance process. Are they planning on borrowing even more money despite the massive tax increases? Philip Reese has that question. I have a phone call in nine minutes that I can't miss. Oh, man. Philip, Coden Owens says, regarding your AI finance example,

someone still has to identify the deals to write the deck about. While that may mean fewer analysts needed, it also allows that talent to work on more mid-market deals. Imagine bringing Wall Street knowledge to mid-market transactions for family-owned regional businesses.

Coal miners were told to code. Now bureaucrats can lean, can learn to wield pipelines. We're in the deal-making business. A lot of people think we're in the podcasting and talk-show business. The firm is in the deal-making business. And I can tell you this, that in the deal-making business, when it's tied to real estate, commercial real estate,

there's probably a dozen people that do it, a dozen dealmakers that are driving the market. That's effing crazy. There's probably a dozen people in a 300,000 person region. Let me up that number a little bit. There's probably two dozen people, no more than two dozen people, that are driving the deal flow for a 300,000 person region. 24 people that are driving the deal flow for a 300,000 person region.

The deal makers. James Watson watching the program. He says, honestly, man, I think you can have a great educational experience at a public school if the parents are very active in a child's life and in school activities, plus the community. I've had kids in both. The beauty of public schools is it represents the real world and represents the people you're going to work with. I think nowadays 12 years and private school plus college somewhere is about $1.5 million. The same $1.5 million can be put in investments for real estate over 16 years and probably make that child a ton more money. James, I think about that all the time. My wife and I have done the math. That's just utilize the $25,000 number, and that number is way low because there are incremental increases on tuition plus all the costs associated with private school. This is right up deep throats alley, but I'm just going to use, because I'm literally doing this on the fly on a talk show, I'm going to say kindergarten

through senior year in high school, and I'm going to use $25,000, and I'm going to times that by 13, that's $325,000 and that number is way low. Deep throat, what is the back of the napkin? Do you think really for a kindergarten through senior year in high school for private school education locally? He's got two at a private school as well. 325,000 is low. I'm going to take that 325 because I'm literally doing this on the fly and doing the most basic math possible. We have two kids.

When we're all set and done, it's going to be $650,000 to educate. our kids. And that's before they even get to college. And that number is way low. I'm very curious if he's still watching what that number would be with the actual increases, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But let's just use my basic rough math of $650,000. What if we had taken that same $650,000 and put it in three or four index funds, didn't touch it, They appreciated in value 8 to 12% every single year. And when our two sons were done with public school, graduated from public schools, we said, here's a investment portfolio that you guys can share.

But we do it because we love. And because we can as well. I got a conference call in five minutes. John Blair's got a comment. Let's go to John Blair. Feeds blowing up. It's absolutely blown up right now. It's from John Blair.

And I got to give some love to Conan Owen and Sir Speedy, Central Virginia. Conan Owen and Sirspedia Central Virginia are our signage partners. We trust them with our signage needs. Direct mail, merchandise, uniforms, lanyards, pamphlets, the banner behind me.

Conan's a Darden graduate. And he does business also the honest way. That's why we do. business with him at the Miller organization. Deep throat gives us a number. I'm going to go to John first. I also think the following is relevant, John Blair says. The value of the total assessment of all property in Almaro County was $23.1 billion in fiscal year 2022. In fiscal year 2026, it is $31.7 billion. And while no one wants to hear this like everyone else we received our new assessment in January a house on the

neighboring street in Redfields just sold for 5% above the brand new assessment I think the tax rate and exponential level criticisms are fair discussions but I just can't see any realistic criticism of assessments in Almarl County the point John is making is assessments are below market value and I had this little back and forth with Brent Lillard about this, that assessments are always below, or nine times out of ten, below market value. But what Almaral County can do is the real estate tax rate. And when it upticks it, upticked it four cents like it did last year, that's a punch in the tookus, a knee in the tookus, an elbow in the tookus. I'm talking fingers all the way to the elbow into the

took us by raising the four cents like it did last year. It could just ride the wave of the assessments. John Blair says also to Deep Throats point, it's worth taking a look at the commentary about Robo Advisors circa 2015 in the financial advisory sector. At that time, people were predicting the end of financial advisors. Notice that the industry's employment levels rose after 2015. Deep Throat says this. If you assume 25,000 in kids, kindergarten. This is the private school tuition of what you're going to pay out of pocket. Thank you, Deep Throat. You're making the program better. Same with you, John. Same with you, Philip. Same with you Conan. Same with you, Carly. There's a ton of comments I'm not getting to, probably 250 comments I'm not

getting to here in the chat box. If you could get, if you assume 25,000 in tuition in kindergarten, and then add 4% increase per year through the 12th grade, and that doesn't even include all the donations you get hit up for. If you get 6% nominal return, you'd end up with 500,000,000,000,000, $180,000 per kid. I also agreed that the assessors do a good job. The issue is not assessments. It's the tax rate. Bingo. And he said, I went to public school my whole life,

better education than my kids are getting without question. Deep Throat is also a, I also know the man. He will let me say this. He's a self-starter. He was a God-given tremendous intellectual skill set. I think that is safe to say deep throat. You start at Harvard University at what, 16 deep throat? Not everyone was blessed with these God-given gifts, my friend.

I sincerely mean that. I think your wife would also attest to that. You were blessed with intellectual skill sets that the average Joe and Jennifer do not have. It's important to emphasize that. That 6% nominal return is light. I don't know what the viewers and listeners are getting, but I think it's more to the tune of 8% to 10%. just my personal experience.

Ginny Who is watching the program. I literally have to stop the show in 60 seconds. Hom schooling in the Commonwealth has grown 49.5% since the lockdown, including 5.34% in the last year. 2025 to 2026 reported homeschooling numbers for Almar County are 781 students. This number, however, should be taken with a grain of salt as the Virginia Department of education only includes the numbers from notice of intent documentation they received by August 15th. We should question if that is intentionally done for the public school funding count of how many

tookuses they have in seats on September 30th, as there are always families who will pull their children later in the fall after that date. Certainly they'll pull their families, pull their kids. My hair is not cooperating today. Certainly they will pull their kids after a truancy ice skipping school protest where some of these kids were puff puff passing behind the trash dumpsters instead of truly protesting ice. I'll catch heat for that. All right, that's the show. I literally put my earbuds in because I'm making a phone call right now. Judy, can you get me off camera and close the show please? That's the I Love Seville Show for Judah Guickower. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you all and have a wonderful Wednesday.