The Mathews County Board of Supervisors adopted a total county budget of $36.34 million for fiscal year 2026 and set the real estate tax rate at 60 cents per $100 of assessed value (an increase of 4 cents over the current rate of 56 cents) during a sparsely-attended meeting last Thursday, May 1, in the historic courthouse.

The vote on both measures was 4-1, with supervisor Dave Jones dissenting.

Of the total budget, $26.197 million will come from local revenues, while the $10 million balance will come from state and federal funding. Local expenses include transfers of $9,148,400 to the schools, $1,152,375 to Social Services, and $1,667,138 to capital improvements and special projects. This leaves the county with an operating budget of $14.23 million.

During discussion, supervisor Mike Walls said that three years ago he promised Mathews residents that he would never vote to raise the tax rate until every aspect of the budget had been scrutinized.

“We have done that,” he said. “We have to do something to keep the county solvent.”

Jones said he couldn’t vote for the 4-cent increase in the tax rate required to fund the budget because he had seen books in the library that should not be available to young children. He said he would be “more than happy to fund the library if this content were removed.”

The supervisors had asked Mathews Memorial Library director Bette Dillehay to cut $82,000 from her budget, and County Administrator Ramona Wilson explained that she and Dillehay had worked together and had managed to trim $43,250 from the library budget.

Jones appeared incensed by something he had seen in a book and continued to object to library funding. He also said there’s been bullying at school that “nobody’s doing anything about” and appeared to blame it on “woke culture.” In addition, he objected to the cost of administration for both the county and the schools, and he said the maximum increase in the tax rate should be 2 cents per $100 of assessed value.

“This county has gone so far out of range of what is proper, what is moral, what is godly,” he said. “We’re losing children in school because of this. I will not support it, ever.”

Supervisor Tom Bowen said that the board had to pass a budget that night by state law and that, no matter how board members might feel about such matters, they were not in a position at that moment to “tell the library or the schools what they need to do or not do.” He said that such issues could be addressed later. In addition, he said that significant cuts had been made to library funding that had nothing to do with the content of books. He said the budget is so tight that there’s no room for any unexpected expenses, and he suggested increasing the tax rate 5 cents.

Supervisor Janice Phillips agreed, saying that the board had covered every line of the budget several times, had taken the contingency fund to zero, and had pushed every revenue line to its limit. In addition, she said, all funding for Market Days, the fireworks, and rural housing was cut out, and the YMCA’s request was not fully funded.

“Four cents doesn’t give us any room at all,” she said. “One cent more is $210,000, which is not a whole lot, but gives some breathing room.”

Chairman Tim Doss said that the board had made significant cuts to the budget, but that it was still “a little heavy on administration” and could probably be cut more. He said he would also work with the school board to try to get the school budget reduced, as well. But he said he was satisfied with an increase of 4 cents per $100 of assessed value.

As far as books at the library, Doss said there are materials that “disturb me greatly” and that he hoped to work with Dillehay on the matter.

In addition to a real estate tax rate of $60 per $100 of assessed value, the board adopted other tax rates, all of which remained the same as last year, including $3.70 per $100 of assessed value for personal property, $1.45 for boats, and $2.14 for campers, machinery and tools.

Other items discussed

The board had an extensive discussion about ways to increase revenue, including bringing municipal water to downtown Mathews to attract more business, diversifying the revenue stream by increasing the meals or transient taxes, and selling the 7.8-acre parcel the county purchased adjacent to the high school for a firehouse before deciding instead to purchase the former Boys & Girls Club building on Church Street for that purpose. To encourage a developer to buy the property, Bowen suggested reducing lot sizes so townhouses could possibly be built there, increasing the value to a developer.

There was also a discussion of a contract the county has had with the IT company Alliance since 2023 that board members said they were unaware of. Originally $85,000, the contract has increased to $184,000 because of software licenses obtained for the county by the company.

Jones, who was chairman of the board at the time the contract was made, said it had never been approved by the board. He said he recalled speaking with the IT staff at the time (neither of whom is employed with the county any longer) and explaining that the county needed emergency backup, but he denied approving the contract.

“They came and did the work, and the next thing you know there’s a contract,” he said. “It was supposed to be approved by the board. Who he contacted and the money spent I couldn’t tell you.”

Wilson provided a lengthy history of the way the contract was put in place, which involved an emergency IT situation that IT personnel discussed with Wilson while she was away on vacation, her instructions to have the contract examined by the county attorney, and signing of the contract by deputy clerk to the board Judi Green, who had signing authority in Wilson’s absence.

Doss said that $184,000 had been spent with Alliance while the county had two full-time IT employees on staff, and that there was no documentation showing the supervisors were aware of the contract. He then called for a closed session to discuss the matter further, and County Attorney Andrea Erard said she would contact the company to see about cancelling the remainder of the contract.

The closed session also included discussion of 384 Old Ferry Road, the county-owned property where the Hole in the Wall Waterfront Grill is located.