By Michael Copley
Staff Writer

Having presented a balanced budget for next year, the board of supervisors is now “watching the revenue picture from the state” and working with county staff to try to identify further savings, said District 1 Supervisor Joe Walton.

“We’ll continue to watch the state and continue to look at what can be done locally,” he said.

“All board members are seriously trying find” additional savings, said District 5 Supervisor Carson Tucker. “We owe it to the public.”

Finance Director Stephanie Davis presented the county’s proposed budget for next fiscal year- $69 million- at a public hearing March 22. For now, the county is showing just over $19 million budgeted for education.

The school board is still more than $600,000 short of a balanced budget.

In comparison to other localities, Davis said Powhatan is in a “very good position.”

The majority of the audience at the budget hearing last week wore orange in support of Powhatan County Schools.

Nearly 30 people spoke during the public comment period. Some commented on the proposed tax rate increase, most lobbied for additional school funding.

The budget numbers presented March 22 are based on a proposed increase to the tax-rate of 9 cents. Because of diminished property assessments, the county will have to raise the tax rate on real estate to 80 cents in order to generate the same amount of money the 71 cent rate brought in this year.

Residential property values are down 13.2 percent in the latest assessment.

Because of lower assessed values, county leaders insist the rate increase would not mean a tax increase.

A letter to the editor last week from resident Todd M. Rojcewicz, a member of Powhatan Taxpayers Alliance, argued that property owners would have to pay the same amount of money for a “devalued property.”

“That is the definition of a tax increase,” he wrote.

The county’s commissioner of revenue, James Timberlake, said a valid argument can be made for either position.

District 2 Supervisor Marsell Bustos asked residents at a town hall meeting March 23 to think about whether they favor an increase in the rate- to provide the county the same amount of tax revenue as this year, he said- or additional cuts to the county’s budget and “dramatic reductions in services.”

Supervisors said the proposed rate increase was set as a ceiling: the rate the board votes to adopt April 12 could fall anywhere between 71 and 80 cents. “80 cents is not nailed down,” said Tucker. 

In a show of hands at the meeting March 23, the majority of residents there indicated they favor the 80-cent rate. Bustos said he expected more of a split.

“I think we’re seeing the tax alliance is a very vocal and motivated group,” he said, but “I’m not sure” that group represents the general opinion in the county. 

School board member Jason Moore reported the schools are $680,000 from a balanced budget. The board of supervisors has yet to return $517,000 in surplus funds from last year that the school board requested recently in a letter to supervisors.

Tucker said that money would likely be transferred back to the schools when supervisors adopt the county’s budget April 12.

The board of supervisors “is trying to be very, very careful about disbursement” of money, he said.

Echoing other supervisors, Tucker said any money returned to the schools this year should not be spent on recurring costs, and that it cannot be added into the school board’s base budget numbers next year.

“We truly believe next year will be worse than this year, and there’s great trepidation that if we’re not very careful, we’ll be in a worse situation next year,” he said. “It’s not us against them.”
Moore and School Board Chairman Tim Gresham have said the additional funds would be used to save jobs — an appropriate use of the money, they say, because the schools expect 18 positions to be eliminated next year through attrition.

If the county doesn’t step in to cover the remaining shortfall, Moore said the school board will have to make a philosophical choice: eliminate programs or make additional cuts to salaries and positions.

If more cuts have to be made, he said he favors cuts to the central office. 

The next budget meeting will be held tonight at 7 p.m. in the Village Building auditorium.