Inside A3 Residents share winter wonderland photos
Powhatan, Virginia B1 Recapping Powhatan’s boys and girls basketball seasons
Vol. XXXIV No. o. 33
February 17, 2021
County budget process could see big changes By Laura McFarland Editor
P
OWHATAN – The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors took its first dive into a budget process that is seeing them plan not only for the coming fiscal year but for the next decade. The board met on Friday, Feb. 12 for its first workshop focused solely on the budget. But as the board found out at the workshop, there are a huge amount of decisions to make in the coming weeks to determine how this budget season will play out. In a three-hour workshop without a set flow of topics, the board’s discussion covered a wide variety of issues as they discussed starting a process that looks not only at immediate needs but better helping them plan out the coun-
ty’s financial forecast for the next 10 years to make more informed decisions about spending and growing services. County administrator Ned Smither led the board through the budget process, which he suggested some significant changes to for the supervisors to consider. When Smither was hired in 2020, the board stressed the importance of his ability to build a long-term budget and capital improvement plan (CIP) for Powhatan County. Smither stressed that he recognizes the board is not likely to approve all of the suggestions he has, just like they already expressed concerns when they reviewed the first draft of the 10-year CIP. But by putting it before them and the public he can start gauging where their priorities are and tighten up the budget accordingly in the coming weeks and months.
The four board members did not take any votes on the budget. Some of the topics they are considering have an element of urgency to them, so they scheduled another workshop at 1 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 19 in the Village Building. The board asked for more information from Smither this week to bring back for their consideration. This was the first board meeting since Larry Nordvig’s resignation became effective on Jan. 31. The board opted not to discuss the process of filling the seat in a 2-2 vote. Chairwoman Karin Carmack, who represents District 5, and Mike Byerly, District 3, voted to discuss the topic, which was on the original meeting agenda but taken off shortly after, while David Williams, District 1, and Bill Cox, District 4, voted not to discuss it. This was the only topic not related to the fiscal year
(FY) 2022 budget or CIP process.
Budget process Smither was clear on the difference in this budget season from the start as he described building a 10-year budget with the FY 2020 numbers as the starting point instead of FY 2021, which has been more skewed because of the pandemic. Along with the FY 2020 budget year, staff looked at the previous five years to understand the departments’ growth rates and used them to project the future numbers, he said. One benefit of this is that it mostly sets aside the unusual nature of the FY 2021 budget year, he said. By using this process, he also hopes to avoid the tradition of taking the previous year’s budget and making slight adjustments see SUPERVISORS, pg. 6
4-H students share Valentine’s Day cheer with local seniors Powhatan 4-H members like Fletcher Cook recently designed homemade Valentine’s Day cards to distribute to local seniors. More photos see page 8.
Pumpkin patch proceeds serve the community
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
PHOTO BY LAURA McFARLAND
Organizers of the annual Pumpkin Patch present checks from the proceeds to Connie Moslow, center, excutive director of the Free Clinic of Powhatan. Those who brought the checks were Steve Peters, from left, Deputy Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus; Tom Moseley, Grand Knight; Ann Lewis, co-chair of the Catholic Women’s Organization, and Pat Bereznak, CWO secretary.
School board takes first look at FY 2022 budget By Laura McFarland
DELIVER TO: Postal Patron Powhatan, VA 23139
Prsrt. Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Powhatan, VA Permit No.19
Editor
By Laura McFarland Editor
POWHATAN – The Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Women’s Organization spread some cheer this month when the two Powhatan groups started distributing the proceeds of the 2020 Pumpkin Patch. The Pumpkin Patch, which celebrated its 12th anniversary in the fall, raised about $13,000 that is being split by the two organizations to be distributed to the charities of their choice, including many local nonprofits. The two civic organizations, which run the event together every October, were distributing funds last week, starting with a visit to the future site of the Free Clinic of Powhatan, which both of them chose as a recipient this year.
Organizers look at the Pumpkin Patch as a community event that brings people in Powhatan together in a positive way and as a fundraiser, said Tom Moseley, Grand Knight of the Father Val von Meysenbug Council 9507 of the Knights of Columbus. He stressed that the fundraiser part was entirely depending on the community showing up, and this year people fully cooperated in that goal. “That community support is what drives the whole thing and makes it either successful or less successful. Since all the proceeds go to charitable organizations, we will always be successful in that regard. But the level of success we did this year is directly related to the community support,” Moseley said. see PUMPKIN, pg. 8
POWHATAN – The Powhatan County School Board started its initial work on the fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget by discussing the challenges it may face and what the members’ priorities will be moving forward. Discussion on the budget was held during the board’s meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 9, with Dr. Eric Jones, superintendent, giving the members their first look at the very preliminary numbers. The initial draft of the budget projects it at $49.94 million. While there were still many unknowns in the presentation, it became
evident in discussion that board members were receptive to one of the key features of Jones’ proposed budget, a 3% salary increase for all employees that comes with a price tag of $869,900. The salary increase was one of four components making up Jones’ initial proposal of a $1.35 million increase in expenditures over FY 2021. Other proposed increases were: $40,000 as a placeholder for a potential health insurance rate increase; $255,648 for school and department requests that include an additional six full-time equivalents and one stipend adjustment, and $181,069 in line item resee SCHOOL BOARD, pg. 5
Free Clinic’s dental program sees wide support from industry By Laura McFarland Editor
POWHATAN – Even as the Free Clinic of Powhatan adds finishing touches and plans to open operations at its new location in a few weeks, organizers are still pulling together components of its newest venture, an inhouse dental clinic. The Free Clinic has long had a program to provide dental care for its patients using partnerships with local dentists and Goochland Cares. But with the renovation of the former school board office and the opening of the clinic’s new expanded space at 2320 Skaggs Road comes the opportunity to provide inhouse dental care for the first time, said see DENTAL, pg. 6
Deb Fenoy, center, and her son John Fenoy, drop off a large donation of dental supplies to Veronica Dickson, dental coordinator for the Free Clinic of Powhatan.
PHOTO BY LAURA McFARLAND