VRTA Spotlight

In this Email:

A Message From the VRTA President
VRTA Member Benefits Information
Today's Interest Rates
Learn More About Umbrella Policies
Winding Down
Important VRTA Dates to Remember

March 2026

A Message from YOUR VRTA President, Karen Whetzel -

Moving Forward Together!

Our vision: All retired school personnel will be safe, productive, informed and financially secure in retirement.

Our mission: to be the voice, resource, and connection for all retired school personnel.

The VRTA Spring Delegate Assembly meets on April 28 and 29, 2026, at the Doubletree by Hilton in Midlothian. The registration form and link to the Doubletree Midlothian to book rooms at the special rate will be available on the website soon as well as in the Spring newsletter which Susan Martin is working on now. Deadline for articles in the Spring newsletter is MONDAY, MARCH 30. (Reminder: we need the name of the newsletter editor to replace Susan by that date, too. PLEASE consider volunteering if you are able.)

Hope to see many of you at the Spring Delegate Assembly! In addition to the VRS presentation, special speakers, and breakout sessions called “Healthy, Wealthy and Wise,” the Delegate Assembly will conduct business of our Association. A tentative schedule will be in the Spring VRTA newsletter on the website!

For the upcoming Delegate Assembly, each local unit can have 2 voting delegates; local presidents should send me the names of your local unit delegates as soon as you have them. I will have voting cards at the Delegate Assembly business meeting for each voting delegate.

At the 2025 Fall Conference, VRTA had a wonderful reception paid for by NRTA. We do not have money in the budget to do a reception at the Spring 2026 Delegate Assembly. Virginia AARP has graciously paid for a reception for the Fall Conferences in the past. We do have the use of the room where our meetings are held, but any food we serve must be purchased from the hotel. If you have any ideas on a Tuesday evening activity that we could try, please contact me soon!

District Presidents, VRTA Committee Chairs, and VRTA Past Presidents are on the VRTA Board of Directors which meets April 28 at 9 am. If you are in one of these categories, please let me know if you will be attending, or send me the name of the alternate representing your district. It is important for EVERY district to be represented.

Each local unit is allowed 2 voting delegates for the VRTA Delegate Assembly each spring. I will need the names of your two delegates too! Again, it is important for every LOCAL UNIT to be represented.

VRTA elects officers at the 2026 Spring Delegate Assembly. Here are the nominees: President Elect, Mary Jane Mutispaugh, District F; Vice President, Larry Hardesty, District N; Secretary, Loula Brox, District T; Treasurer, David Palanzi, District N. Current President Elect Drucilla Pollard, District C, will become President on July 1, 2026. Nominations can also be made from the floor. Voting will be held and new officers for 2026-28 will be installed at the Spring DA. We will install the new officers at the Delegate Assembly, although they don’t start their terms until July 1, 2026.

This is my 20th President’s Message in the Creekside Spotlight. My term as president ends on June 30, 2026. I hope everyone will support our 2026-28 President Drucilla Pollard! THANKS to all who have supported me, made suggestions, gave me constructive criticism! The time has gone by so quickly!

Annual reports to VRTA from EACH local unit and district are due by June 30, 2026, but if you have elected new officers sooner, please send them in early. Leigh McKay, outgoing Directory chair, has agreed to collect and compile the directory information for spring, but her term ends June 30, also.

We need a new directory person asap! Consider volunteering.

If I can help you, your local unit or your district in any way, please email me at kswhetzel@gmail.com or call me at 540-740-8589! I love to hear from members and leaders!

Karen Whetzel, VRTA President 2024-26

Karen Whetzel

VRTA President

Phone: 540-740-8589

Email: kswhetzel@gmail.com

Scan the QR code on your smartphone or click it to look at Karen Whetzel's VRTA President's page!

If you ever wonder what it means to have VRTA benefits? Visit the website – vrtabenefits.org to see what benefits are available to you.

Gena Young

540-722-2529, ext. 120

genay@creeksideadvisors.net

Haylee Combs

540-722-2529, ext. 121

hayleec@creeksideadvisors.net

Insurance Advisory Services

Home & Auto
Medicare Products
Long-term Care
Life Insurance
Fixed Indexed Annuities

Financial Advisory Services

Retirement Income Planning
Pension Survivorship Analysis
Portfolio Management

Phone (540) 722-2529

Toll-Free (800) 467 5425

Email: vrta@creeksideadvisors.net

WINDING DOWN

The 2026 Session of the General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn on Saturday, March 14. In years past, the GA sometimes did not meet the adjournment date because of disagreements between the two parties. Since the Democrats are in the majority in both chambers, and the governor is Democrat, it was assumed that there would be no problem in reaching agreement on issues, especially on crafting the biennial budget. Not so! The House and Senate have one strong difference.

The hang-up is what to do about removing the sales tax exemptions given to data centers when they were courted to establish facilities in Virginia in 2008. Currently, the data centers are not required to pay the 5.3% sales tax on the expensive server equipment and software. Virginia has more data centers than any other state with 663 operational centers and 595 more under construction or planned. Eliminating this exemption means that Virginia is missing out on the estimated $1.6 billion in revenue each year that could be used for necessities such as schools, mental health, etc. The Senate budget is based on this additional money. Originally, the sales tax exemption had a sunset clause that would end it in 2035, but the Senate wants to end it in 2027.

The House bill keeps the sales tax exemption but adds requirements to meet certain energy standards. Data centers reported that in 2024 they had created 1,197 new jobs in Virginia, an investment of $32 billion, but a JLARC report found that most of these jobs were construction of the facilities rather than ongoing operations.

Governor Spanberger has advocated for requiring data centers to pay their fair share of the cost of the tremendous amount of energy used by these centers, but she has reservations about removing the sales tax exemptions. Her spokesperson said she has “serious concerns about going back on commitments Virginia has made to businesses it has recruited.” In a letter to the budget conferees, she said, “I know we share a commitment to protecting Virginia’s fiscal integrity, upholding our commitments to businesses that we have invited to invest in the Commonwealth and maintaining the AAA bond rating we have held since 1938. We need clear expectations for the Commonwealth’s future revenue to ensure we have structural balance.”

Wednesday, March11, Governor Spanberger told reporters in a response to a question on her position on the sales tax exemption that there are discussions of the possibility of a consumption tax to make sure data centers are paying their fair share of the cost of electricity. According to the state tax code, consumption rates that took effect in 2001 were lower for large industrial and commercial customers than the rate for residential customers. A report showed that in 2024 Virginia data centers used 24 million megawatt-hours of electricity, and they paid about $252 million in consumption taxes. An analysis by the Richmond Times-Dispatch suggests that if they paid the same rate as most residential customers, they would have paid $459 million. This is still far less than the approximately $1.6 billion the sales tax exemption would provide.

Perhaps adjusting this consumption tax as well as some other ideas for increasing revenue from data centers will allow the conference committee to produce a budget acceptable to both the House and the Senate. House rules require that a budget conference report agreed to by both the House and the Senate be available 48 hours before a floor vote. That means all these details must be worked out by Thursday, March 12. If not, they could extend the session up to 30 days.

When you receive this article on Sunday, March 15, we may or may not have a final budget.

Bea Morris

VRTA Legislative Co-Chairperson

Email: beam1340@gmail.com

Important VRTA Dates to Remember

Monday, March 30, 2026: Spring 2026 VRTA newsletter deadline (which will be electronic only, posted on vrta.us in color!)

Tuesday, April 28 & Wednesday, April 29, 2026: VRTA Spring Delegate Assembly at the Doubletree by Hilton in Midlothian, Virginia.

Tuesday, June 30, 2026: Deadline for submitting District/Unit Combined Annual Report and 2026-27 District and Local Unit Officer info for the Directory to Leigh McKay with copy to Daphne Miller. Also deadline for submitting VRTA Community Service Report to Louise Mont-Adams, and NRTA With Our Youth award application to NRTA

Tuesday, September 29 and Wednesday, September 30, 2026: VRTA Fall Conference at the Doubletree by Hilton in Midlothian