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Supervisors discuss budget increases
LAURA MCFARLAND
Managing Editor
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POWHATAN – The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors recently received an initial proposal for a budget that would see the county increase spending in fiscal year (FY) 2024 by $9.68 million, which is an 8.8% increase.
During a workshop held Monday, March 6, the supervisors had their first detailed discussion of the proposed fiscal year (FY) 2024 county budget, looking at initial projections in revenues, county spending and possible tax relief.
Some of the highlights new county administrator Bret Schardein touched on in the proposal included a 7% salary increase for all county employees, depending on the state’s final budget; a 2-cent decrease in the real estate tax rate; $1 million in personal property relief; almost $1.5 million in costs related to position changes; a brief discussion about capital improvement program (CIP) projects (the board will discuss these more in depth March 20); and the schools.
The board didn’t linger on the topic of the schools as they were set to get more information at a joint meeting with the school board two days later (see story Page A1).
The board had received a basic overview of the budget on Feb. 23 but hadn’t yet received the budget book and didn’t discuss many details at that point. Last week’s presentation went a little more in depth into proposed revenues and expenditures and allowed the supervisors to ask questions and begin sharing their views.
The board was set to talk more in depth about revenues, department budgets and personnel at the March 13 workshop, which occurred after press time.
The FY2024 budget that staff proposed in this initial draft uses a 75-cent real estate tax rate and calls for total expenditures at $119,585,197, which is a $9.68 million (8.8%) increase. These numbers are net of inter-fund transfers and subject to change as more information becomes available and the board makes changes.
Looking more specifically at the general fund revenues from local sources, real estate property taxes for FY2024 are projected at $42.27 million, which is a 17.1% increase from the FY2023 adopted amount of $36.08 million. Personal property taxes are proposed at $13.55 million, which is a 3.2% decrease.
Other local taxes, which include local sales tax, are proposed at $7.39 million, which is a 7.5% increase.
Many property owners were left reeling last month by reassessment notices that saw increases in the tens of thousands of dollars. Because of the increased assessments, the county’s effective tax rate – the tax rate Powhatan County needs to create the same amount of revenue as the previous year – would be 67 cents per $100 of assessed value for 2023. However, the proposed county administrator budget only suggests lowering the tax rate by two cents from the current rate of 77 cents.
Currently, one cent on the real estate tax rate in Powhatan is about $560,000.
In his executive summary to the board, Schardein pointed out that the proposed real estate tax rate of 75 cents would “represent the lowest real estate tax rate in 14 years and 10 consecutive years of flat or lower real estate rates.”
The board members did not go in depth into the tax rate but did ask why county staff, instead of proposing more than a two-cent real estate reduction, proposed $1 million in personal property relief for targeted relief to personal vehicles valued at $4,500 and under.
Schardein said some members of the board expressed interest in lowering both real estate and property taxes. The $1 million
David was a starting point to look at for relief.
Bill Cox, who represents District 4, pointed out that while personal property did see a large spike last year, in this budget, the extra burden is being felt mostly in the real estate assessments, so that is where the relief should be focused.
David Williams, District 1, said the personal property relief numbers seemed too arbitrary and he couldn’t support that relief option. The larger bubble in personal property taxes occurred in 2022 and the majority of the board chose not to address it, he said. So it doesn’t make sense this year, when numbers aren’t as inflated, to go that route.
“I would rather go with something I can represent as fairness across the board,” he said, echoing Cox’s comment that the calls he is getting are concerns about real estate taxes.
Steve McClung, District 2, suggested doing both to help more people and chairman Mike Byerly, District 3, pointed out the county could do it if the majority of the board agreed because “we are in very good financial shape.” Byerly also wanted to feature planned relief for the elderly and disabled. Other topics discussed at the meeting included:
Personal property taxes: The personal property tax revenue listed in the proposed budget is shown as $13.55 million, which is a 3.2% decrease from FY2023 adopted. Finance director Charla Schubert said the county does not have firm numbers yet this year so they used
The hows and whys of a requested $60 plus million fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget for Powhatan County Public Schools were the focus of a meeting between the county’s two elected boards last week.
The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors and School Board had a robust discussion on topics such as enrollment, adjusting to rising costs caused by inflation, health insurance, future spending and learning loss, among others, in a robust joint meeting held Wednesday, March 8.
Debbie Halloway, assistant superintendent of finance for the schools, gave a presentation to both boards on the requested budget, and then answered some questions along with superintendent Beth Teigen and school board members as the two boards moved into a full discussion of different matters concerning the budget.
The school board’s proposed budget, which they adopted the night before, is at $60,089,010, which is a $4,823,760 increase from the FY2023 adopted budget. Of that total amount, the school system’s request in this budget is for a county transfer of $28,108,736, which is a $2,082,129 increase of local funds.
However, in addition to the adopted budget, the school board asked the board of supervisors to consider a budget initiative for $998,292. The county and the school board currently use the same health insurance but the two entities have different rates, with the county contributing more for its employees than the school division does for faculty and staff.