“It saves the land.” That is what Warren County Planning Commissioner Kaylee Richardson told the Royal Examiner on the evening of Wednesday, June 12, after a work session that began at 6 p.m. and lasted until 7 p.m. and after a regular meeting that began at 7 p.m. and lasted until 9 p.m. at the Warren County Government Center at 220 North Commerce Avenue. Richardson indicated the commission’s desire to honor and protect agriculture in Warren County. Supporting the growing trend of agritourism is one of the ways that goal can be accomplished.

Warren County Planning Commission meets on Wednesday, June 12, for a work session before their regular meeting. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh

In addition to serving as one of the county’s planning commissioners, Richardson is a farmer who uses her resources to practice an agritourism business. On the US Department of Agriculture’s website, agritourism is defined as “a form of commercial enterprise that links agricultural production and/or processing with tourism to attract visitors onto a farm, ranch, or other agricultural business to entertain or educate the visitors while generating income for the farm, ranch, or business owner.” Richardson educates her guests through classes that teach them, among other things, about how beehives can enrich the soil and thereby positively impact the environment. One of Richardson’s main attractions is beekeeping.

Warren County Planning Director Matt Wendling explains relevant details to the commission during a discussion of the developing comprehensive plan at the commission’s work session.

As a generation of farmers grows older and faces extinction, Richardson underlines the importance of providing opportunities for young people to have a hands-on experience with farming, fall in love with it, and possibly see it as a viable career path for their future. This is what she calls planting seeds. These young people may come from a city where they would never have the chance to learn about farming. Talking to Richardson is itself a learning experience. Her passion for beekeeping is palpable. Bees, she shared, will travel as much as two and a half miles away from their colony. “They’re very low impact,” she said, “but they bring so much to the community.” At any given time, she ranges from forty to fifty colonies. She rescues bees and supplies them to others interested in starting their own beekeeping concern. As for soil enrichment, bees add nitrogen back into the soil by pollinating white clover, which is a net positive for the environment.

Warren County Planning Commission meets for their regular meeting on Wednesday, June 12.

As the county planning commission fine-tunes its comprehensive development plan, agritourism is a relevant concern. Although its inclusion in the plan is not required by law, the commission has it on its radar.

Click here to watch the Warren County Planning Commission Meeting of June 12, 2024.

Tuesday’s Fiscal Year-2025 Warren County Budget Public Hearing was another face off between pro-public school staff and supporters and anti-public schools funding proponents, the latter appearing tied to religious private or home-schooling and anti-tax hike proponents. However, it was not the massive numbers showdown that occurred just over a year ago between supporters and non-supporters of Samuels Public Library when a similar funding debate occurred.

Just 11 people spoke at the public hearing, with a slim 6-5 anti-increased public schools funding majority. One surprise was that the public schools funding debate occurred in front of a largely empty public gallery space. The arguments from both sides were familiar, with anti-additional funding for public schools proponents alleging a lack of administrative transparency on funding needs and proposed operational expenditures, and a general miss-use of the local funding it does receive.

The WC Board of Supervisors prepares to hear public feedback on its FY-2025 County Budget proposal. That proposal, with another year of flat public schools funding, matches projected revenues including the first tax hikes in 5 years, at a total budget of $191,115,165, of which $81,738,434 would be committed to public schools, often cited as the county’s largest single employer. Below, it was not a packed house as the FY-25 Budget Public Hearing began at the 18:50 mark of the just under 51-minute meeting video. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

The WC Board of Supervisors prepares to hear public feedback on its FY-2025 County Budget proposal. That proposal, with another year of flat public schools funding, matches projected revenues including the first tax hikes in 5 years, at a total budget of $191,115,165, of which $81,738,434 would be committed to public schools, often cited as the county’s largest single employer. Below, it was not a packed house as the FY-25 Budget Public Hearing began at the 18:50 mark of the just under 51-minute meeting video. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

Public schools staff, including teachers, and supporters countered that it was, in fact, teachers, support staff, and students who would be directly harmed by a proposed flat local funding by the county government. Some pointed to lagging  student achievement standards cited by public schools critics at four of the divisions schools, as a result of a recent history of flat local funding as opposed to a missuse of available funds. Sarah Downs, a past and present vocal supporter of Warren County Public Schools, spoke to her perception of the county’s elected officials in this very regard.

An “Unacceptable Question”?

“Year after year you have the opportunity to invest in the children of our county and yet every year for four years the local funding has remained flat for Warren County Public Schools,” Downs pointedly told the supervisors, posing what she said seemed to be “an unacceptable question” from their perspective, their way: “Why have we not raised local funding to our schools in four years?” she asked of a time period that has been described as the most inflationary in America over the past 100 years.

“Absolutely, I agree with raising taxes and funding necessary services, but to not even offer a small increase in funding to account for inflation is unrealistic and unacceptable to me. I pay my taxes assuming at least some of the increase goes to the schools and yet nothing,” she said of what has been cited as the county’s largest single employer.

“In April I came to you explaining the decrease in federal funding and that decrease is large, $1.4 million dollars. This is something we estimated and yet you did not anticipate,” Downs told the supervisors. “Nothing about the future of our education system and the sustainability of the system really can be compared to a Christmas wish list … Adding a new reading specialist or a new agriculture teacher is not a Christmas list item,” Downs asserted with emphasis. “The expenses that will be cut this year will be expended eventually. The lack of funding for now will contribute to the accreditation issues, staffing shortages and more.

“A lack of investment now, is an expense with interest and inflation incurred in the future — and/or a continuation to fail to support children. And my advocacy for investing in the children of this county will not cease,” Downs assured the county’s elected officials in closing her comments with a “thank you” for the opportunity to make her case against the county budget as proposed regarding the community’s public educational system.

Sarah Downs asked if: ‘Why have we not raised local funding to our schools in four years?’ was ‘an unaskable question’ to pose to the supervisors during one of the most inflationary periods of the past 100 years in America. Below, John Lundberg circulates copies of his coming remarks against any increased funding to public schools, which opened the budget public hearing.

Counterpoint

As the public hearing’s opening speaker, John Lundberg spoke for the other side of the argument. Citing what he called “a year-long study of the cost of public education in Warren County” that he conducted in Fiscal Year-2022, Lundberg pointed to numbers he believes don’t add up to a quality educational system. He said he asked for a “single figure” for how much the public school system had allocated for in five categories for the then-coming FY-2022 budget. Those categories were: “402 teachers, 35 administrators, 298 district employees other than teachers and administrators, benefits, and non-labor costs,” Lundberg said, adding, “I was given the data I requested. Plus I was told I would be notified at the end of the Fiscal Year how much money was actually spent in these five categories. At the end of Fiscal Year-2022, I was given a detailed 48-page report.”

However, Lundberg’s perception of what he received was not favorable. “The total cost to taxpayers in FY-22, to educate 5,000 students in Warren County Public Schools — when you add mortgage payments of approximately $10 million to the District’s ‘Operating Fund expenditures’ — was $80,269,899 — an average of $16,200 per student per year,” he asserted. “That’s a mnd-boggling figure … far, far more than it cost a family to send any child to any private or parochial school in the county.”

Lundberg directed a series of critical comments at Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Chris Ballenger in his analysis of what he received regarding the FY-2022 public schools budget: “Members of the Board of Supervisors, I wish to state clearly in closing that Dr. Ballenger’s request for increased funding for next year is an outrage! Tell him to cut the cosr of public education in Warren County, not increase it. Don’t allow him to spend one penny more next year than he spent last year.”

We will reference one other speaker due to her position to ascertain budgetary impacts on teachers and support staff, and ultimately on that staff’s ability to educate the students of Warren County Public Schools.

A teacher’s perspective

“My name is Rebecca Hutson. I am co-president of the Warren County Education Association representing the teachers and staff of Warren County. I am also a resident of the Happy Creek District, an educator in Warren County Public Schools, and the parent of a Warren County Public Schools student,” Hutson said in introducing herself to the county supervisors.

“I am very concerned by the decision to provide no additional funds to Warren County Public Schools. We have heard you say that you want to support the educators of Warren County Public Schools. The best way to do that is to support the schools’ budget.

“Because of the decision to flat fund the schools, our school board has needed to cut another $2.4 million from their budget. Each building will have to function on the same amount of money as last year even though the cost of most things have gone up. Having to do this will not help or support our teachers,” Hutson asserted, noting the consequences of proposed cuts do not end there.

“Even with those measures, the school board needs to cut another $981,112. To do this they will need to eliminate three new positions. Those positions would have provided an additional agriculture teacher for our students; a reading specialist who would have helped our teachers implement the new literacy act that goes into effect next school year; and an additional elementary teacher that would have reduced class sizes and made for better teaching and learning conditions. Losing those positions is not in the best interest of the teachers or students at Warren County Public Schools. — Maybe Hutson can get together with above-cited Sarah Downs to put together a “Christmas Wish List” of needed staff. — Maybe Santa will listen if the supervisors don’t.

Rebecca Hutson, co-president of the Warren County Education Association representing teachers and other staff, made a detailed case against the staffing, salary, and other cuts totaling about $4.1 million public schools will have to implement within the flat-funding proposal on the table for a vote of approval at the Board of Supervisors June 25th meeting.

If the operational situation she was describing wasn’t bleak enough, Hutson further noted that, “Even after those positions have been cut, there is still a need to cut the budget by another $720,569. There is nowhere left to cut except for the salaries and benefits of the teachers and staff of Warren County Public Schools,” she pointed out, ending her sentence with the now-familiar refrain: “This is not in the best interest of the Warren County Public Schools teachers or staff … In fact, some teachers may actually make less money next year if these cuts take place … I implore you to reconsider your decision to flat fund the Warren County Public Schools budget … The current decision to flat fund our budget is harmful to the teachers, staff, and students of Warren County.”

The board has until its meeting of Tuesday, June 25, when a FY-25 budget vote is scheduled, to consider what it has heard regarding its coming fiscal year budget, particularly as it relates to funding of the Warren County Public Schools system.

See the linked County video for the full FY-2025 Budget Public Hearing debate of the 11 speakers granted three minutes each to make their respective cases. Following County Administrator Ed Daley’s PowerPoint budget summary begun at the 1:35 video mark, Board Chair Cheryl Cullers convenes the public hearing at the 18:50 mark of the linked 51:54 video.

Click here to watch the June 11, 2024, Warren County Board of Supervisors Meeting.

The town of Front Royal has vacancies to fill. In a presentation before the Front Royal Town Council on Monday, June 10, at a work session that began at 7 p.m. in the Front Royal Town Hall on 102 East Main Street, Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lauren Kopishke shed light on the Local Board of Building Code Appeals (LBBCA) which currently has two vacancies and is therefore inoperative, at the expense of processes that must continue in the Town’s daily business.

Town Council meets on the evening of Monday, June 10. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh.

Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lauren Kopishke presents to the council the need to fill two vacancies on the Local Board of Building Code Appeals (LBBCA).

Established in January 2023, the LBBCA provides a means by which an aggrieved party can appeal the determination of the Property Maintenance Official through an application with a $400 fee. As Mayor Lori Cockrell pointed out during the council’s discussion with Kopishke, the $400 fee is a deterrent since many citation recipients will likely find it easier to comply with the regulations than go through the costly appeals process. However, as Kopishke pointed out, even that $400 fee does not cover the cost of the meeting appointed to address that appeal. At any rate, in the interim, until those two vacancies are filled, Kopishke’s department can still issue zoning citations. Still, it cannot issue property maintenance citations as each has different codes.

Lisa Schwartz of the Beautification Committee of Front Royal gave a presentation to the council on the benefits of what the committee is doing and some of its current goals.

Thus, there are these two vacancies for which the Town accepts applications and two positions for alternates if there is an absence. Cockrell admitted that she thought there would be more of a response. However, on June 22 from noon to 3 p.m. near the Gazebo on Main Street, where the Town is holding an open house, there will be an opportunity for any interested parties to approach the planning and zoning table and learn more about these LBBCA positions. All members must live in Warren County, and three must live in the town. To quote the Town code, “At least three members shall have no less than five years’ knowledge and experience in the construction industry. Members that do not have knowledge and experience in the construction industry shall have an equivalent experience in the real estate, law, architecture, or engineering professions.” The code says that no employee or official of the Town may serve as a board member.

Manager of Infrastructure Steve Scheulen from Public Works informs the council regarding what is before them, a “blanket resolution” for a project funding commitment for projects under agreement with VDOT. If the council votes in favor of the resolution at their June 24 regular meeting, the Happy Creek Road Phase II project can proceed.

In an extreme case, in which the vacancies have not been filled, the town manager could arrange with another locality for an appeal to be heard. Given the overall sense at the meeting on Monday evening that this issue is being expedited, that extreme scenario likely will not occur.

On Thursday, June 6, the Warren County Board of Supervisors announced the legally advertised Special Meeting date for the public hearing on what has been at times a controversial publicly debated Fiscal Year-2025 Budget: “Notice is hereby given that the Chair has called a Special Meeting of the Warren County Board of Supervisors to be held beginning at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, in the Board Meeting Room of the Warren County Government Center, 220 North Commerce Avenue, Front Royal, Virginia. The meeting is called to hold a Public Hearing for the FY 2024-2025 Warren County Budget.”

That Special Meeting agenda also notes: “The Board will hear public comment on the proposed County budget, the proposed school operating and food services budget, and the proposed budgets for the Blue Mountain, Cedarville Heights, High Knob, Lake Front Royal, Linden Heights, Osprey Lane, Riverside, Shangri-La, Shannon Woods, Shenandoah Farms, Shenandoah Shores, Skyland Estates, South River Estates, and Wildcat Drive Sanitary Districts for FY 2024-2025.

“Citizens are invited and encouraged to submit comments on the proposed budget to zhenderson@warrencountyva.gov or by emailing or mailing their comments directly to their Supervisor,” the June 11 agenda observes, or of course you could show up to speak during Tuesday’s public hearing.

Could we see a duplication of this 2023 crowd, coincidently on D-Day June 6 last year during the public library funding debate, this Tuesday, D-Day plus 5, as the public weighs in on WC Public Schools funding? – Stay tuned, sports fans! Royal Examiner File Photo Roger Bianchini

And while the county supervisors will listen on June 11, and possibly discuss what they have heard or read, they will not vote that evening. The board’s vote on final approval of its FY-2025 budget is slated for its June 25 meeting, six days prior to the July 1 start of Fiscal Year-2025.

As far as controversy surrounding the Fiscal Year-2025 Warren County Budget, it has revolved around two primary points. First, the need for a tax increase to provide sufficient revenue for the proposed budget, and second, the submitted Warren County Public Schools budget request.

Of the first factor, it should be pointed out that it would be the first tax increase tied to a County budget in, if we recall correctly, five years. It is a period during which the nation has been said to be in its most inflationary period in 100 years on service, infrastructure, and other open market operational costs.

On the county public schools side, controversy has swirled around the movement of surplus funds from previous fiscal years between budget categories, as well as assertions of insufficient information on the driving reasons for specific funding requests. One might note that public school budget summaries submitted previously have included as much as 43 pages of small print, line-item budget requests, with additional information usually eventually available from School Admin staff.

As for the cross-category public schools surplus funds movement we reference discussion of that matter in the story “Special County Finance-Audit Committee meeting appears to clear the air on Public Schools surplus funds movement“

After executing a brief presentation of an application for a special use permit for a short-term rental at 415 East Main Street, Deputy Zoning Administrator John Ware guided the Front Royal Planning Commission through a detailed, intense overview of a possible development at Ashton Green that lasted for roughly an hour at the commission’s work session on Wednesday, June 5, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Front Royal Town Hall at 102 East Main Street.

Front Royal Planning Commission meets for a work session on Wednesday, June 5. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh

Located near Happy Creek Road’s connection to Leach Run Parkway, Ashton Green is a wooded area with forty-three acres and borders already developed residential zones. Rappahannock HC, LLC owns 1321 Happy Creek Road, and the property is currently zoned Suburban Residential District (R-S). If the commission votes in favor at their June 26 meeting, this property will be rezoned to Residential District (R-1). This potential rezoning is significant because it would allow the developer to build forty-three additional dwelling units that would be permitted if the property remained under R-S zoning. Under R-S, Rappahannock could develop sixty-one dwelling units by right, while under R-1, the number would increase to one hundred four by right.

Deputy Zoning Administrator John Ware briefly presents a request for a special use permit before moving on to an in-depth presentation on an application for rezoning at Ashton Green, where a potential residential subdivision is proposed for development near Happy Creek Road and Leach Run Parkway.

The evening’s agenda packet reflected a significant amount of labor on the part of the Planning and Zoning Department. A letter was addressed to Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lauren Kopishke from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) informing her that, in their estimation, “this subdivision will have minimal impacts to the local roadway network.” As Ware explained to the commission, Rappahannock is prepared to give the Town the right-of-way it needs to make needed improvements to the Happy Creek Road segment adjacent to Ashton Green. Currently, that area features an S-bend that is less than ideal, and a realignment is desired. The proffers that Rappahannock is making would in part offset the cost of roadway improvements and offset the cost of a rise in the number of young people attending local schools. A fiscal impact analysis conducted by S. Patz and Associates concluded that the development of Ashton Green into an R-1 zone with one hundred four single-family detached dwelling units would generate an annual tax revenue of $407,620.

Warren County Planning Director Matt Wendling addresses some of the finer points of the Ashton Green rezoning application.

Real estate consultant Ariel Goldring, the president of S. Patz & Associates, answers questions from the planning commission about the projected fiscal impact of the Ashton Green project.

In compliance with the requirement of the state of Virginia that localities facilitate Urban Development Areas (UDA), the Town’s comprehensive plan calls for higher-density development, and Ashton Green, where Rappahannock wishes to achieve higher density, qualifies as one such UDA. Instead of pushing development out into the outer reaches of Town limits where there are likely to be agricultural zones that do not wish to be encroached upon, developing by right at a higher density within areas like Ashton Green has the potential to fulfill Front Royal’s need for housing for those working in the Town.

The Finance and Audit Committee of Warren County held a Special Meeting at 6 p.m., Monday, June 3, in the Warren County Government Center Conference Room. Chair Vicky Cook indicated the purpose of the meeting was to iron out County Public Schools budget transfers between Fiscal Year-2023, FY-2024, as well as anticipated ones needing approval into FY-2025. Cook expressed concern on how some surplus funds had been or would be transferred between public schools budget categories, primarily between Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) and Operations. Public Schools Finance Director Rob Ballentine was an invited attendee and responded to committee questions, explaining the budgetary dynamics as best he could.

WC Public Schools Finance Director Rob Ballentine, partially obscured upper right, responds to question from Committee Chair Cook at far end of table as appointed citizen rep Kathleen Johnson, foreground, studies a projected budget graphic. That initial graphic illustrating various public schools budget categories is pictured below. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

At the meeting’s conclusion there seemed to be a consensus that a variety of factors at all funding levels, Federal, State, and Local, some related to money originally earmarked to the schools through FY-2023 as part of the newly established CARES Act funding related to the federal COVID response, and special conditions there or elsewhere were involved in the confusion. One factor cited at the federal level was that some appropriated money wouldn’t be available until it had been spent. Another impetus on the Public Schools Administrative side was that surplus funds were transferred into categories that needed additional funding to prevent the County Board of Supervisors from having to borrow or empty interest-bearing accounts to provide that funding that existing surpluses could accommodate as a cost-saving alternative.

While expressing her ongoing concern that what had and was going to be done wasn’t traditional bookeeping 101, acknowledging the variety of confusing variables, Chairman Cook said, “I’m just saying that money should have gone to Fund One (Operations) … But understanding that it’s a little different, we learn from this and we move on.”

“My understanding is just it’s still evolving in terms of what its program as CARES Act funding and how it tracks. I can see where it would be challenging initially to propose how you’re going to use it,” appointed citizen committee member Kathlene Johnson observed, adding, “And to shift it from a federal direction into ours and how it will fit into the State budget. CARES Act funding is probably going to be haunting everybody for a long time,” Johnson concluded drawing some appreciative laughter.

When Committee Chair Cook was preparing to close the meeting after over 50 minutes of discussion she commented, “I hope number one, this was not a waste of time in calling this meeting.” Vice-Chairman Butler appeared to speak for the committee, as no one contradicted him after he replied, “No, I think this was very fruitful because it helps us to understand that it was just a timing difference. And you had a learning curve with the federal funds. And when the bills came in, how do they say, ‘There’s too much money left at the end …’ And so we had to move some of those around with the understanding that we’re going to get those funds in at some point where you’re going to reimburse (categories).”

And the fact that the meeting ended with a fair amount of laughter around the WCGC Conference Room appeared to be a good sign that any lingering suspicions of wrong doing or unethical movement of funds by county public schools administrative officials had evaporated for those present.

Two more Public Schools budget graphics illustrating questions the Finance and Audit Committee Special Meeting was called to answer. Most, if not all committee members seemed relatively satisfied at what they heard as to why surplus transfers were done as they were over past two fiscal years, and going into FY-2025.

In addition to Cook and Butler from the county supervisors, county staff present for the Finance and Audit Committee Special Meeting included Finance Director Alisa Scott, Treasurer Janice Shanks, and Budget Analyst Megan Cheshire. Citizen appointees included the above-mentioned Kathleen Johnson, as well as James Bergida and Leslie Matthews. John Montoro was identified as special VML-VACO finance consultant. And as noted, public schools Finance Director Rob Ballentine was an invited and key attendee.