County moves toward public hearing on $104.39-million FY-23 Budget

At a Special Meeting of Tuesday, March 22, the Warren County Board of Supervisors approved an advertisement for an April 12th public hearing on its proposed Fiscal Year-2022/23 budget. The $104,398,159 budget – including an $89.80-million General Fund contribution in support of all its departments, regional partnerships/outside agencies, and a $27.72-million Local Appropriation to the Public Schools operating budget – was achieved without any proposed tax increases. The General Fund portion of the budget reflects just a 1.57% increase ($1 million) over the current fiscal year General Fund budget expenditure.

With Finance Director Matt Robertson at the podium, the county supervisors, minus the absent Jay Butler, ponders financial variables as they move toward an April 12 public hearing on the $104.39-million FY-2023 budget proposal. Below, taxes are planned to remain flat, but general tax revenue is projected to jump about $3.2 million due to real estate and personal property valuation increases. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

Relatively new County Finance Director Matt Robertson and his department were lauded by several supervisors for their work on the coming fiscal year budget, and accessibility to questioning on various budget dynamics as the process evolved in recent months. Contacted later by Royal Examiner about an overview of the FY-2022/23 budget, Robertson noted the total expenditures, not including the public-school portion of the budget, was $57,806,517, with a total of $46,591,642 going to the county’s public schools in three categories. Those categories are Operations ($27,720,000, the General Fund contribution); Capital Improvements ($8,571,642); and debt service on past capital improvements ($10,300,000).

On the County Departmental side, $4,822,621 was committed to administrative functions; $5,975,174 to Public Works; $7,468,878 to Health and Welfare Services; $3,474,707 to Parks & Recreation and Cultural (library, museum, cultural events); and $2,792,561 to Community Development, including Planning and Zoning ($484166), Economic Development ($2,140,616, a reduction of $1,056,884 from this fiscal year’s EDA budget) and related services; $2,136,087 to Judicial Services including one new expense, $70,160 to help establish a joint-municipal Drug Court more directed toward rehabilitation that has shown success in Frederick County/Winchester in recent years; and $15,295,950 to Public Safety, including $7.47 million to the Sheriff’s Office, up $2.18 million, in part to help add needed additional personnel requested.

Matt Robertson had a smile on his face after he and his department were complimented for their work and responsiveness to questions throughout the FY-23 budget process.

With public safety and public education often seen as two of municipal governments’ primary responsibilities to its citizens, it may not be surprising to see those relatively large $27 million (public schools) and $15 million (public safety) expenditures going to those operational budgets, particularly with the size of the public schools’ two-high school, two-middle school, five-elementary school operations.

Four “Regional Partnerships” received a total of $4,052,300, with the tri-county RSW (Rappahannock, Shenandoah, Warren) Regional Jail getting the bulk of that at $3,429,100. Other partnerships include Northwestern Community Services ($343,000), a Juvenile Detention Facility ($240,000), and Laurel Ridge Community College ($40,200).

Other budget highlights included establishment of an Asset Replacement Fund ($1,844,583) and a Capital Improvement Fund ($1,220,125). A PowerPoint presentation on these funds showed the distribution of those budgets into a variety of projects (Capital Improvements) and departments (Asset Replacement). Of the County’s Capital Improvement Plan totaling $14,839,853 for School Division ($8.5 million), Fire & Rescue ($3.4 million), Public Works ($1.7 million), and Parks & Recreation ($1.2 million) it was noted that all but the $1.2 million allotted to the new fund would be paid by Grants ($6.2 million), Special Projects Funding ($3.3 million), carryover debt service ($3 million), and Prior Year Fund Balance ($1 million).

Queried about the process behind these two new funds, Robertson explained, “The Capital Improvement Fund is a reflection of the Capital Improvement Plan which addresses the capital project needs of the County within a 5-year planning period. The Fund exists to purposefully set aside, track, and accrue monies over time to pay for these larger needs without adversely affecting taxpayers in specific years and create long-term funding strategies.

“Similarly, the Asset Replacement Fund sets aside monies to replace large assets that aren’t planned for in normal operational spending. Specifically, we are targeting our highest-need areas like Radio Equipment and Fire & Rescue Apparatus replacement. Again, the money is specifically put into this fund for the listed purposes so we can track our large expenditures and ensure funding is available as equipment needs to be replaced over time.”

A PowerPoint graphic of planned Asset Replacement Fund distribution.

On the Asset Replacement side with a total of $2,792,150 proposed to six departments, it was noted that about $1 million was anticipated to be paid through Special Project Funds. The allotted Asset Replacement Budget of $1.84 million and change would be distributed to Fire & Rescue ($800,000), Sheriff’s Office ($1,263,100), Parks & Rec ($86,000), Information Technology ($410,000), Public Works/Refuse ($100,000), and General Administration ($163,550).

On the revenue side, despite keeping taxes flat it was reported that about a $3.2 million increase in tax revenues was anticipated from Real Estate and Personal Property Tax “valuation increases”. On the downside, a $200,000 loss of revenue was anticipated from declining interest rates on County accounts.

If your head is spinning from all these numbers and budget variables, remember you have about three weeks to clear your head and tell the county’s elected officials what you like or don’t like about the proposed coming fiscal year (July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023) budget.

See the budget presentation and discussion that began the Special Meeting of March 22nd in the linked County Video. That 7 p.m. meeting followed a 5 p.m. closed session to discuss pending legal matters involving the EDA and County Airport operations; and a 6 p.m. work session beginning with about a half-hour VDOT presentation on its Smart Scale Program and application process.

Matthew Smith, at the podium, opened the VDOT work session presentation on its Smart Scale Program, but Adam Campbell, at right, soon took over to guide the board through a PowerPoint on the parameters of projects more likely to succeed in gaining funding through Smart Scale and other VDOT revenue sharing programs. Below, the board listens intently as it tries to gather how to get its share of VDOT revenue sharing. Later during the meeting the board finally approved the requested donation of a 1.5-acre parcel to facilitate the Rockland Rd. railroad flyover VDOT plans for construction in 2023. County Administrator Ed Daley explained that will be the County’s lone contribution to a $23.5 million project, $8 million funded by VDOT, and $15.5 million in federal infrastructure grant money related to rail access to the Inland Port from the Norfolk International Terminal.

The work session then segued into a discussion of a scheduled meeting agenda item on a Resolution of Support for a tourism-friendly, regional declaration of a “US Bike Route 211” that would direct recreational bicyclists along a preferred route through involved counties. That discussion led to a meeting tabling of a vote on the Resolution to allow Fork District Supervisor Vicky Cook time to publicize the initiative to her constituents, since as she noted, a majority of the local US Bike Route 211 in the county lies in her district.

Some safety concerns were expressed, but staff noted that the chosen Route 211 route was considered, not only a scenic path but also a safer one for cyclists compared to other regional roads. Since there did not seem to be an urgent timeframe involved in the approval of joining in the US Bike Route 211 designation, the board tabled a vote on support to its April 5 meeting.

The approximately 51-minute work session was also videotaped by the County.