What’s Next for Henrico County?

Rich Meagher:

Welcome to RVAs. Got Issues, the show that brings you the people and ideas that are reshaping Greater Richmond. I’m your host, Rich Meagher. The R in RVA may stand for Richmond, but surrounding counties like Henrico are just as important for the region. Henrico is home to over 330,000 people. That’s one and a half Richmond’s, and has an annual budget of $1.4 billion. In fact, Henrico predates Richmond. The city was actually carved out of Henrico County back in the day. So what is Henrico all about? Where’s it going and how is it going to shape the future of RVA? To find out, we’re joined by John Vithoulkas, the county manager for Henrico. John’s not only answering my questions, but also yours questions. You left on our listener voicemail line.

Welcome, John.

John Vithoulkas:

Thank you, rich.

Rich Meagher:

So, John, you’re practically a Henrico lifer, you were born in Greece, but you grew up here and you went to Henrico schools. So what, what do you love most about Henrico?

John Vithoulkas:

How much time do you have? So, yeah, my parents immigrated here when I was a baby.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

John Vithoulkas:

And Henrico has always been home. I think there’s over 3000 counties in the nation.

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm.

John Vithoulkas:

And not many people in my position actually get to manage the locality that they grew up in. Not only do I have to answer to, um, you know, the board of supervisors and residents, but I also have to answer to mom and dad, So it is

Rich Meagher:

Entirely unique. I gotcha. Yeah. You gotta make sure you’re, you’re doing well for the two residents who probably matter quite a bit to you,

John Vithoulkas:

Right? That’s right.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. So you said, uh, that Henrico is one of, you know, 3000 counties. Mm-hmm It’s, it’s one of 95 in Virginia, but Henrico has a pretty special history, right? What, what do people not know about the history of Henrico County?

John Vithoulkas:

So, I mean, the history goes back to 1611.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

John Vithoulkas:

And this is the first place after Jamestown that the settlers came. Henrico actually went all the way to the mountains, and then a number of counties were carved out of it. Right. Chesterfield was carved out of it. It really is the place where our nation, uh, came together. A lot of history, a lot of civil war history, a lot of history from the Revolutionary War. And so, you know, the thing that I absolutely love about Henrico, you have a quality of life that, um, you know, with our parks, with our natural history, with our school system is absolutely phenomenal. A little known fact that people may not know is we have over 140 different languages that are spoken. Oh, wow. On the fiscal side, we are considered one of the best managed counties in the nation. Our bond ratings actually higher than that of the, um, than the United States of America.

Rich Meagher:

Well, some folks might want to shift some money over these days,

John Vithoulkas:

Buy Henrico Bonds.

Rich Meagher:

So again, it’s, it’s a good reputation, but it’s not that simple. Right. It’s, it’s not perfect. In Henrico, you guys have just had this, uh, this big green city development, right. Um, fall through at least the original plan for it. And this included taking over kind of this idea of an arena project that that came from, from downtown Richmond, the, the Navy Hill Project. So this is a big development, right? You have a lot of planning, you do a lot of work, but then it, it just doesn’t happen. Why is that?

John Vithoulkas:

Well, so I wouldn’t say it, it doesn’t happen. In fact, uh, we fully expect Green City to happen. It won’t be called Green City.

Rich Meagher:

Right?

John Vithoulkas:

So we entered into a series of agreements with these developers, and, uh, the reality is that our agreements were pretty strong as far as protections for the county. The deal was that the county was not going to issue bonds or obligate current revenue for an arena. This would all have to be financed by revenues that were produced on that property. But we’re not going to sacrifice the finances of our county to do that. And so these developers tried, but there was a timeline. So they missed a series of timelines and project milestones. We put ’em on notice, they failed, uh, to meet the development agreement. And then there was a purchase and sale agreement that we had with them where they had the opportunity to buy the land.

Rich Meagher:

Right.

John Vithoulkas:

And they were not able to do it. There were safeguards that were put in place to protect the taxpayers.

Rich Meagher:

So they’re not stuck doing a deal

That isn’t being

John Vithoulkas:

Absolutely. We’re not gonna go in and turn around and say, you know what? Now we should issue, uh, public debt to get this done. So now we’re in the process of, um, we are taking back that land, and the county’s gonna be issuing an RFI, uh, request for information through the Economic Development Authority. We fully expect arena operators and developers to make multiple submissions. And within a series of months, we expect to have a team in place.

Rich Meagher:

But it’s a very different economic environment we’re in right now. Like, as we’re speaking, particularly with tariffs and federal funding cuts, other economic shocks, particularly outta Washington. Are you worried that this economic growth strategy that Henrico has been pursuing won’t hold up so well in the current environment?

John Vithoulkas:

Well, so there have been ups and downs in the economy throughout my career. And so what we do in Henrico is we’re really conservative as to how we budget our revenue. We expect a dollar, uh, from a source we might budget 85 to 90 cents. And that has proved to be a good strategy coming out of oh 8, 0 9, the county actually had more money in its bank account than the Commonwealth of Virginia did.

Rich Meagher:

Hmm.

John Vithoulkas:

By using that strategy. So we are very mindful of the dollars that are spent, but we will react as we need to because you’re absolutely right. There’s a lot of up down, topsy-turvy actions that are being taken by the federal government. We do fully expect that the job losses in Northern Virginia will result in some sort of Virginia recession.

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm

John Vithoulkas:

And so we were really careful in how we budgeted state aid, especially for schools, which is where most of our state funding goes.

Rich Meagher:

That sounds good. Right. Um, but people are still kind of freaking out. You know, businesses are really worried about being able to stay afloat. Childcare centers are worried about losing federal subsidies, losing kids because the workers are not working anymore, or federal workers. Is there, uh, a sense that this is different from previous recessions, or are you just saying enrico’s gonna stay the course and we’re we’re doing fine?

John Vithoulkas:

No, I’m not saying that we have the ability to, um, be flexible. Mm. That’s what I’m saying. And you know, when you talk about the business environment, I remember when I, I came to work for the county in, um, January of 1997, and at that time, our real estate tax rate was 98 cents on Tuesday. The board cut the real estate tax rate again to 83 cents. They cut the personal property tax rate on every car in every business in the county, uh, to a level of, uh, $3 and 35 cents. And we have a, a number of tax relief programs for mm-hmm <affirmative>. Seniors, stability for the business community is one of our mantras, if you will. And that’s not going to change. But what I’m telling you is that financially financial flexibility allows you to do things that maybe others don’t, that spend every last dollar that they have. We don’t, we’re really careful, but I agree with you. There needs to be stability at the federal level as far as fiscal policy for all.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. So, let’s say there isn’t stable federal policy. What are some of the things that you think Henrico could do? Let’s say, you know, we do enter a recession, there are massive job cuts and losses. What are some of the, the things that Henrico might be able to do to help their residents?

John Vithoulkas:

So, questions have come up. We’ve had a series of town halls. We had two in Veronica, and at both, this question came up, and at one, a citizen asked, you know, what are you gonna do if the federal government cuts funding for school lunches? And the answer is, we’re not gonna let kids go hungry in Henrico County.

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm

John Vithoulkas:

We’re gonna figure it out.

Rich Meagher:

So you’re committing to protecting free lunches, for example, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So the federal government does cut that funding. Henrico is gonna find that funding.

John Vithoulkas:

We will, we will figure out a way to do it. Yes, sir.

Rich Meagher:

So you, you mentioned that in this year’s budget, you’re cutting property taxes again, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Because this has happened before. Is that wise in the current funding environment? The way that, that the instability is coming in from the federal government, you know, worries about maintaining flexibility. Sure. That’s great. But can you do flexibility while you’re also cutting taxes?

John Vithoulkas:

You know, it, it comes down to who’s paying the taxes, right? So if there’s instability at the kitchen table, if there’s instability, you know, within the business environment, what is it that the county can do to help, you know, create more? You know, our tools are somewhat limited, but again, we’ve been through a number of recessions, a number of economic upheavals, and quite frankly, rich, you know, what I, what I see at the federal level is day one, this is what we’re doing. We’re doing this, and then we’re doing that. Yeah. You know, there’s a list of every country in the world having, you know, some sort of tariff then, then that changes a week later.

Rich Meagher:

Right.

John Vithoulkas:

So, um, I think calm, um, persistence and, and not buying into, you know, the minute to minute politics that we’re seeing probably is a good approach. But obviously the, the barometer is the most vulnerable. And if there’s something at the federal level that impacts many, we’re gonna do everything we can to solve that.

Rich Meagher:

I sometimes hear about two Henrico, right? You’ve got the wealthier West End, like Tuckahoe and other places like that versus the Eastern end. So it doesn’t include this kind of like rural area, andina kind of mixed race communities. And historically black Fairfield a part of, of the county, um, demographics differ, but so do incomes. Right. Does something like a $30,000 average income difference between east and west Henrico, a higher poverty rate in Eastern, how do you experience this divide? Like, how does this affect the work that you do?

John Vithoulkas:

I mean, it, it actually is a focal point. We spend more, uh, per student in Eastern Henrico than we do in Western Henrico. That was an intentional policy decision that was made early on, um, in my administration. And we have hard to serve schools where we are actually staffing spending more, being incredibly intentional. You just go back over the past 10 years and look at where has the county spent the most. And that has been in the Verona Magisterial district, um, whether it’s Taylor Farm Park, the New Holland Springs High School, we did two new high schools, something the county hasn’t done since the fifties. At the same time, they were over $115 million each, and they opened at the same time. And Tucker by, you know, by far, is probably the most demographically diverse school in the county. But the way you do it is you’re in intentional about it.

Rich Meagher:

So, so that intentionality is not always recognized, I think, by residents of Henrico Fairfield particularly. Right. So Verina is certainly, you know, a, a rural area, but Fairfield, historically, black, historically, I think Underinvested, um, in, in Henrico Richmond has similar problems with sort of south side versus North side. Like are there specific investments going into Fairfield to try to counter the long history, uh, of discrimination That’s occurred?

John Vithoulkas:

So we have this saying, uh, within the county, uh, and it’s been this way three, four years.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

John Vithoulkas:

And the saying is that Fairfield is on fire.

Rich Meagher:

Hmm.

John Vithoulkas:

The development that you’re seeing in Fairfield outpaces that of any other magisterial district. You’ve got a new elementary school Yeah. That is going in River Mill. We’ve got Green City that is coming out of the ground in Fairfield. You’ve got the fall line trail that goes through Fairfield and and goes all the way to Ashland.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. So, I mean, Fairfield on fire is, is great, right? Yeah. And so that’s good development, but that doesn’t necessarily always help the people who are there today. Right. This is the gentrification issue or problem, right. The, the displacement, gentrification by itself, not necessarily a problem, but, but displacement. So, uh, what’s that county trying to do about displacement of, you know, the traditional communities that have been in Fairfield for a long time and maybe are, are worried they’re not gonna get the benefits of these big developments?

John Vithoulkas:

Well, so I think this is where Reverend Cooper and Frank Thornton Pryor have done really, really well

Rich Meagher:

On The board.

John Vithoulkas:

And that is, yeah, connecting with and communicating, communicating, communicating with the community. We have a community maintenance effort where the county will go out and work with residents, um, on issues. Like, you know, I’ve, I’ve accumulated things in my yard mm-hmm. Or I can’t, I can’t do anything with, I can’t do landscaping. We actually facilitate volunteers. We have teams that are constantly out there. And so part of the effort is that you, you continue to emphasize community pride, and it’s a very real thing. And I think the link with our schools, especially by the funding approach that we take in Henrico, which is we fund fund fund schools, you’re not gonna hear us arguing about dollars for kids, I think relates to that whole picture that you’re talking about.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. And so to, to kind of put it in a, a bigger context about poverty, poverty is a persistent problem in Richmond. It has been. It’s gonna get a lot harder for us. And, and probably for, for your county with what’s going on federally. Are, is there anything else that we haven’t touched on that you’re working on in terms of, of trying to make sure that you’re countering displacement, helping with these vulnerable residents stay in their homes?

John Vithoulkas:

So if you’re in Henrico County and you have net assets outside of the value of your home of $700,000 or less, make a hundred thousand dollars a year, your real estate taxes in Henrico are either going to be capped or you’re not gonna pay taxes.

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm

John Vithoulkas:

We have 9,000 people in the county that don’t pay taxes. We have the most aggressive tax relief effort, I think, in the Commonwealth. But the other thing, you know, with kids, there’s a big focus on youth, whether it’s efforts like summer camps or the police athletic league, or even internships. Henrico County is an organization, has the largest internship program in the region. We’ve run a thousand kids through an internship program that started in 2013, my first year, and we’ve hired 150 to be county employees. So it’s all of those efforts, but there’s always more

Rich Meagher:

We’ll hear more from county manager John Vithoulkas plus hear your voicemails when we come back on RVAs got issues, this is RVAs got issues. We’re back with Henrico County manager, John Vithoulkas. Now John, we’ve been talking a lot about economic development. One aspect of development that’s big on everybody’s mind is housing. Uh, let’s play a voicemail from our listener Jacob, about that.

Voicemail:

My question from county manager John, um, is what can we do as a region, as localities to promote, uh, increased densification and missing middle housing in our localities to both promote, uh, and into the housing crisis and greater financial solvency for our localities?

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. This missing middle idea is big in Northern Virginia, right? What is Henrico doing about housing and particularly apartments that can be affordable for people and, and starter homes?

John Vithoulkas:

Henrico has become almost an incubator

When it comes to affordable housing. We have set up a $60 million affordable housing trust fund that is funded, uh, with cash. And basically what we did is we’ve allocated revenue from one industry, and that is a data center industry. And basically the way the program works is we’re using a, uh, 5 0 1 C3, the partnership for housing affordability to administer it. But here are the numbers. On any given year, Henrico County has about 800 homes that are built new. And this program is targeting 150 homes, basically, to have their prices reduced. Our first, uh, property was actually properties were actually in the Tuckahoe district. And so in that case, we took homes that were in the fours and now are in the low threes. We actually have a project in Verina where someone can get in at 1 98. And so that’s one effort. The other effort that the board recently approved is Henrico now has the smallest lot possible, actually in the Commonwealth of Virginia. There’s one town, I think it’s Lovettsville maybe, that

Rich Meagher:

You’ll have to go find them and fight them over this.

John Vithoulkas:

Right. But it’s a basically 3000 square foot lot, and we’re allowing, you know, single family development on that. But there’s no single way to do it. If you take a holistic approach to that as opposed to this is the only way to do affordable, then you’ll have more success.

Rich Meagher:

I, I like this idea in this model, but one of the things that makes that happen here in Henrico is having a source of funds. Right. So that you mentioned earlier data centers. Right. Um, and so let’s actually have, uh, uh, we have another listener voicemail about that. Let’s listen to that.

John Vithoulkas:

Sure.

Voicemail:

Hi, my name is Dave from Henrico County, and I understand you’ll be, uh, interviewing John Vithoulkas, the county manager. And I’d like to hear what the manager thinks that we’re going to be the benefits to the citizens of Henrico for all the new data centers that are being built in the east end of the county. I’m sure they’re pumping a lot of money into the local economy. And I’m interested to hear specifics about how that will be used to benefit the local population as well as the challenges, especially around the excessive power usage of those types of facilities. Thank you for taking my call, and I look forward to hearing the show.

John Vithoulkas:

So that’s a great question. If you look at the data center industry nationally, data centers are, are, are everywhere.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

John Vithoulkas:

They are going everywhere. So what, what has happened at White Oak Tech Park that has made the data centers want to be there

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

John Vithoulkas:

Is that there are subsea cables that come to Virginia Beach from, um, Europe, from Africa, from South America, and they go to Virginia Beach. But the first place that you can access that speed is at White Oak Tech Park. So right now you have the fastest internet in the world that is available there. But let’s talk about the double-edged sword, because the caller’s absolutely right. Yeah. Henrico is not gonna become Loudoun County. We don’t want data centers abutting, you know, cul-de-sacs. So we have actually told our economic development authority, look, we are, we are good with the data center pipeline. Move on to something else.

Rich Meagher:

Hmm.

John Vithoulkas:

So that is a very intentional policy, um, decision. And so you are not going to see data centers proliferate throughout Henrico, because look, we’ve, we’ve got, we’ve got a lot of businesses in the county. We have the second highest number of jobs in the state, and there’s a lot of variety, and we want non-data center variety. But let me tell you, you know, we were talking about tax cuts. Yeah. Right. So in the budget that the board approved on Tuesday, there’s also a tax increase. The tax increase is on data centers. And so basically we are trying to get closer to some of those Northern Virginia levies. The data center tax was 40 cents, it’s now being increased to $2 and 60 cents. And, you know, the data center industry, there’s a lot of money in it. And they go where there’s power.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

John Vithoulkas:

That, that’s what they, that’s what they need. The tax situation is not, um, as much of a consideration when you consider what they’re paying in Loudoun County.

Rich Meagher:

Right. So you can get a little more money from them. Uh, but, but it is still a lot. Right. So I, I understand you’re saying like we’re, we’re trying to cut off future development, but there still is a lot in the pipeline, right? I think there’s something like 16 data centers already with a few more in the pipeline. Like it’s still gonna feel like a lot of these are arriving in Henrico for your residents, isn’t it?

John Vithoulkas:

Well, so you’ve got, I think the number is clo. We have 11 data center. Okay. Um, 11 in the county. Um, you’re gonna see more in, in White Oak technology park simply because there have been plans that have been approved. They’ve gone through all the, um, they’ve obtained all the permission. But if you drive through white Oak Tech Park and you drive down Technology Boulevard and you look, the data centers aren’t there. Yeah. You’ve got, they’re buffered, they’re screened. It’s a technology park. So, um, you know, there’s a lot of revenue that comes for things like affordable housing. And then, you know, with this tax increase, potentially there could be other efforts that the board considers. None of that revenue’s been factored in. But what I’m telling you is, you know, there’s a, there’s a will to, okay. We’ve had a good run here. Let’s move on to something else.

Rich Meagher:

So do you feel like the county, I mean, I, I know you’re, you’re saying this tax increase will help bring in some more revenue from the data centers. Uh, like the big concerns for residents usually about data centers are, you know, noise about where they are. You’re saying they’re, they’re mainly tucked away in this technology park, uh, but energy needs and water needs, and I know the rates have gone up right this year and this year’s budget. Does that have anything to do with the data centers? Is that gonna burden

John Vithoulkas:

No, no, no, no. There’s no correlation. At White Oak Tech Park, we have the ability to have pump 10 million gallons a day. The data centers are using 1.5 million gallons a day of our largest users. Of our top 10, um, largest water users. Only one is a data center. And as far as the energy, you know, that’s a consideration that the, um, the state is gonna have to deal with. And, you know, by taking the position that we’re taking, because we fully understand there’s an environmental aspect, and I mean, we’re spending a lot of money on environmental efforts in the county a lot. Um, there’s a balance there. And we feel like we’ve reached that balance. And we’re moving on to, um, other industries.

Rich Meagher:

So you were talking about water use mm-hmm <affirmative>. Earlier this year, there was a little bit of a problem with water use in the region. Right. Richmond had its water crisis. And, and many county residents in Eastern Henrico were surprised to find that they were actually served by city water. Right. I don’t even know if, if, if many of them realized it. Um, I, I know the county issued a report talking about frustrations with city communication. Um, I know there are recent efforts in the budget, um, to, to maybe divest yourself from, from Richmond Water. What are the plans? Are, are, is the idea to go it alone, to try and get out of the business of doing water with the city of Richmond?

John Vithoulkas:

So Henrico initially received water from the city of Richmond. The whole county did

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, and in 1994, the county built a water treatment plant, but in order to do so, it had to ask the state regulators for approval and work out a deal with the city of Richmond. So we made an arrangement to buy water through 2040 from them. And you know what the water crisis taught us was that we have all these interconnections. Number one, city water can go just about anywhere short of, you know, short pump Western Henrico. But we try to feed Eastern Henrico with water produced with the three chop from the three chop plant. And we found a physical limitation at Laburnum and Isaiah. So part of the plan is to really energize Eastern Henrico. We are going to be putting in, regardless of any regional effort that that happens, we’re gonna be putting in some larger infrastructure so that we can get water from the west to the east. Because water is necessary, I mean, for everything. And you talk about economic development, companies aren’t gonna come to a place where there are questions about water reliability. So I think there’s an effort that is possible to do something regionally, but this is not something that should ever happen again.

Rich Meagher:

So, one question that’s just a little bit bigger than the region. When we talk about the Commonwealth, uh, Abigail Span Berger, the Democratic nominee for governor had a first big campaign speech, $15 minimum wage worker benefits, and chose Eastern Henrico to make this announcement. Uh, winsome Sears followed her later in the week, uh, went to Shorty’s Diner near Willow Lawn. What’s going on? Why is, uh, why do you think these, uh, statewide candidates are starting things right here in Henrico?

John Vithoulkas:

Well, I think Henrico has always been a bellwether. You know, Abigail went to, um, Tucker High School and represented us for years in Congress and was phenomenal. And, um, with the Lieutenant Governor, uh, she’s been very helpful with some other efforts. I have made a career of, uh, staying out of the political realm, even though I’m as close as I want to be.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

John Vithoulkas:

I can tell you that, um, you know, we’re gonna have a first woman governor next year, and it’s gonna be an exciting time that is, uh, an exceedingly diplomatic <laugh>

Rich Meagher:

And, uh, wonderfully phrased. John Vithoulkas is county manager for Henrico. Thanks for being here, John. Thank you, rich. That’s our show. Thanks to our guest, John Vithoulkas. Next up, we want to hear more from you. In an upcoming episode, we’ll be talking with members of the Richmond City Council. If you’ve got a question, call our listener voicemail line and leave a message at 8 0 4 5 6 0 8 1 0 8. That’s 8 0 4 5 6 0 8 1 0 8. You can also visit our website, RVAs Got issues.vpm.org. RVAs Got Issues is produced by Max Wasserman and Rachel Dwyer. Donna Lack is our script editor. Audio mix by Steve Lack. Our intern is Cate McKenzie. Special thanks to Lyndon German. Our theme music was composed by Alexander Hitchens. Meg Lindholm is our executive producer. Steve Humble is VP’s Chief Content Officer. I’m your host, Rich Meagher. Thanks for listening.