By Haley Stoltz, Hadley Harbison and Paige Jackson
The tax in Lexington is projected to raise approximately $6.6 million for public school construction and renovations over five years. The revenue would go toward projects like a new gym at Rockbridge County High School and roof repairs at Lylburn Downing Middle School.
If approved, the increase would expire June 30, 2032. It would apply to hotel rooms, restaurant meals and many retail items, but groceries, gasoline and prescription drugs would be exempt, according to interim Lexington Mayor David Sigler.
“A lot of us week to week we need to buy groceries, we need to buy gasoline, we need to have personal hygiene items,” Sigler said. “But it is a choice, respectfully, to eat out at a restaurant frequently and it is a choice if you happen to be staying in a hotel.”
If approved, the sales tax in Buena Vista is expected to bring in about $600,000 a year until 2046, money that would help cover the costs of improvements to the joint campus of Parry McCluer High School and Parry McCluer Middle School. The building requires a new gymnasium and wood shop. These facilities are still being used at the old middle school campus.
“We are feverishly working to come up with a viable way to make sure that we’re able to fund the school expansion as the middle school and high school have combined,” Buena Vista City Manager Krystal Onaitis said. “A lot of that hinges on the 1% proposed additional sales tax referendum passing. That money goes directly to major capital needs, major maintenance needs, and school construction.”
Buena Vista School Board candidate Mike Cartolaro also supports the referendum. He said the revenue is needed to complete the consolidation of Parry McCluer Middle School and Parry McCluer High School and add facilities to the shared campus.
Mike Cartolaro, 64, was appointed to the Buena Vista School Board in 2025 to fill a vacant seat. He lost to Charles Jolley when he ran again that same year. He is running unopposed this year. He has 42 years of experience in public education, having previously served as a teacher, coach and athletic director across five different high schools.
He said his priorities include meeting the needs of the consolidated middle school and high school campus.
Two seats are open on the Lexington School Board, where Justin G. Davis and Latonya Ann Douglas are running unopposed.
Douglas, 39, was appointed to the school board in 2024 for a term that ends at the end of this year. Douglas was not available for comment when contacted by the Rockbridge Report.
Davis, 36, is a business administration professor at Washington and Lee University and a father of young children who will attend Lexington public schools.
“It’s important to me that we maintain the excellence of education that we’re giving our children. And as an educator, I have some knowledge to bring there,” Davis said. “I want to make sure that our teachers are paid fairly with competitive wages to keep that talent here as our educators. And personally, I am really concerned about education in this world of AI.”
Davis said he recognizes the need for repairs at Lexington schools and supports the proposed sales tax increase.
This is only the second time that voters will elect Lexington City School Board members. Until 2024, school board members were appointed. In 2022, a referendum was passed that would allow voters to elect school board members starting in 2024.