No tax increase part of New Kent Board of Supervisors $105 million adopted budget for FY2023-24
For nearly two weeks, New Kent’s Board of Supervisors pondered on how to address a proposed budget that rewarded county employees for loyalty while keeping their citizens happy. And even at Tuesday morning’s work session, county leaders had sturdy discussions before passing the FY2023-24 budget.
New Kent supervisors approved a proposed budget of $105,600,963 at their work session meeting by a 5-0 vote. But that vote didn’t come easy.
County Administrator Rodney Hathaway approached the board with a revised amendment that called for no tax increase, keeping the real estate rate at 67 cents per $100 of assessed value. To accomplish this, approximately $821,510 in cuts from the recommended budget had to be made.
Hathaway’s proposal called for the removal of all new recommended positions as well as upgrades of positions for the upcoming cycle. Employees will still receive a two-percent cost-of-living increase, as well as a pay raise based on the years of service to the county.
While the tax rate was favorable to all, District 4 representative Ron Stiers was not in favor of cutting the new positions, reiterating his stance from the board’s April 10 regular meeting.
“I still say instead of putting $10 million in the set aside from the Colonial Downs’ funds, we should put $9.1 million,” he said. “We need to keep these new positions for our employees.”
District 2 and board chairman Tommy Tiller agreed with Stiers, saying that the employees need to be supported.
“As far as moral, our employees deserve it,” Tiller commented. “They work and do more and more that we ask. While I hate taking money from the funds we receive from Rosie’s, I support it for this reason.”
Supervisors Thomas Evelyn, Patricia Paige, and John Lockwood agreed with the statements made by their two colleagues but disagreed that money that is designated for capital improvement projects should be utilized for the general fund.
“I think it’s dangerous to take money from the Colonial Down Funds and use it in operations,” Lockwood said. “If we do that, we are starting a dangerous practice and setting a bad precedent.”
A motion was made to establish next year’s tax rate at 67 cents per $100 of assessed values without utilizing Colonial Downs’ money in the general fund. It passed 3-2, with Stiers and Tiller opposing.
But the action and debate on the budget was still escalating. Paige addressed board members on the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) with more than $767,080 in recommendations. Among her proposed cuts include reducing New Kent Sheriff’s Office request for vehicles from nine to five, eliminating a fire support apparatus and extraction equipment, and reducing EMS support from $80,000 to $40,000.
After those numbers were presented for consideration, Sheriff J. Joe McLaughlin Jr. and New Kent Fire Chief Rick Opett addressed county leaders with concerns with such cuts.
“Safety is always a concern, and we try to be good stewards of our citizens’ money,” McLaughlin said. “To ask our department to take these cuts as a public safety family is putting our citizens in danger.”
“Each year we’re asked to come with a plan and as you know, the world we live in, ordering stuff isn’t as easy,” added Opett. “It takes two to three years for a fire truck and ambulance to arrive.
“If you want to cut something, I’d say cut the $7 million fire station,” he continued, pointing to the difficulty to staff the facility. “I don’t know with the list of cuts to the budget if we can staff it listening to what has gone on today.”
Paige commented that her intentions were in good spirit as the CIP doesn’t affect the general operating budget, but Lockwood intervened by saying that he is comfortable with the current budget for projects.
“We need to stick to our guns with this one,” Lockwood said. “We are already kicking things down the road with the number of employees. We need to keep this as is.”
The only change to the CIP budget came in the reduction of sheriff’s vehicles from nine to seven. The CIP budget comes in just over $15 million and was adopted unanimously.
Finally, New Kent school’s general operating budget was adopted $44,240,831, with an additional $1,734,336 being placed in their school nutrition funds. School leaders utilized time at a work session to work on addressing budgetary issues and is scheduled to adopt their budget at their May regular meeting.