Virginia’s first batch of federal highway stimulus projects came in 22 percent below state estimates of their cost. The lower-than-expected prices mean the state can put more stimulus work on the street. “We’ll be able to get another bunch of paving contracts out,“ state Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer said. While a good deal for the taxpaying public, the unusually low bids also reflect the tough economic conditions that the federal stimulus program is aimed at countering.

PETERSBURG—Gang leader Kalvin B. Kelley was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday for conspiring to kill a city police detective and other crimes associated with his control of a Bloods-affiliated gang in the Tri-Cities area. Given the chance to apologize or offer any explanation for his actions, the 21-year-old Kelley chose to say nothing before Circuit Judge Pamela S. Baskervill pronounced the sentence.

DINWIDDIE—The Board of Supervisors yesterday removed a proposed 3 percent salary reduction for Dinwiddie County employees before approving a $102.7 million budget for the 2010 fiscal year. The approved financial plan is based on a real estate property tax rate of 68 cents per $100 of assessed value and includes funding reductions to most county agencies. It includes $11 million for the school system, the same amount allocated to the system in the current fiscal year.

The Dinwiddie County School Board’s decision to contract custodial services to an outside company at two of its schools is forcing 17 custodians out of their jobs. Last week, the School Board voted 3-2 to use SSC Service Solutions Inc. to clean Dinwiddie Middle School and Dinwiddie Junior High School beginning July 1. The cost of the annual contract is $316,268.

The Board of Supervisors has proposed a real estate tax rate of 77 cents per $100 of assessed value, 10 cents less than the current rate. The proposed reduction has not pleased residents whose property assessments rose dramatically this year.

The Dinwiddie County school system can save more than $400,000 by contracting custodial services to an outside company, school officials said last week. Finance Director Christie Fleming said the school system could realize a savings of at least $418,405 if the School Board opts to contract cleaning services at Dinwiddie Middle School and Dinwiddie Junior High School to SSC Service Solutions.

The Virginia Department of Transportation has awarded seven highway contracts, worth about $5.5 million, for construction and maintenance projects in central and Southside Virginia.

• Lee Hy Paving Corp. of Glen Allen received two contracts totaling about $2 million for paving work in Charles City, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico and New Kent counties.

The real estate tax rate would be cut 10 cents and most departments would see less funding—including a 3 percent salary reduction for all county employees—under a budget proposed by County Administrator W. Kevin Massengill yesterday. The salary cuts would save the county about $250,000. Massengill said the county needs the money from the salaries to balance the budget. County officials are projecting lower revenues because of the economy.

DINWIDDIE—Even with federal stimulus money included in a proposed budget for 2009-2010, as many as 44 positions in the Dinwiddie County school system could be eliminated. School Superintendent Charles Maranzano Jr. said of those job cuts, 17 teaching positions would be eliminated through “attrition, retirement and the non-renewal process. . . . We don’t have to dismiss anyone to accomplish that.“

The Virginia Department of Transportation will advertise about $176 million in paving and bridge projects for construction bids today, the first of the federal highway stimulus work to hit the street in Virginia. An additional $75 million in highway jobs will likely follow next week. “We’re going to be moving them as quickly as we can,“ said Malcolm T. Kerley, VDOT ‘s chief engineer.

Henrico County: Repaving of 9.8 miles of Interstate 295’s southbound lanes between Interstate 64 and U.S. 33, estimated to cost $8.36 million.
  Dinwiddie and Amelia counties: Overlaying of 46.2 miles of U.S. 360 and 460, estimated to cost $2.95 million.
  New Kent County: Replacement of the deck on the U.S. 60 bridge over Toe Ink Swamp, estimated at $550,000.

The first step to make the 2010 census as accurate as possible is being taken. Actually, it’s quite a few steps. In the Richmond area, temporary workers for the U.S. Census Bureau will walk street to street beginning April 13 to verify addresses in preparation for next year’s population count. The canvassing has started in other areas and is set to conclude by mid-July.

During the first three months of 2009, the central Virginia region had 24 homicides, while in the 2008 period there were 20 homicides. Among 22 localities that make up Richmond’s greater metropolitan region, Petersburg saw the biggest increase.

Closing 25 Virginia interstate highway rest stops would be penny-wise and pound-foolish, speakers told state transportation officials in Richmond last night. The harm that the barricaded rest areas will inflict on the state’s tourist industry and highway safety far outweighs the $12 million in annual savings that closing the rest stops would yield, speakers said.

A Dinwiddie County jury seemed to have little doubt yesterday about the guilt of a mother accused of drugging and stabbing to death her young son in the family’s bathtub in 2006. After a two-day trial that included testimony from 20 witnesses, the jurors deliberated a little more than an hour before convicting Julie E. Futrell of first-degree murder in the Thanksgiving slaying of 6-year-old Shawn A. Futrell.