The Mathews County Board of Supervisors held a sparsely-attended public meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 9, to give residents the opportunity to comment on development of the upcoming budget before the process begins.
Mathews County Administrator Mindy Conner opened the meeting with a discussion of the 2015-2016 budget numbers. She said that, while local taxes and fees provide nearly 76 percent of the revenue in the current budget, expenses that are mandated by either the federal or state government make up nearly 71 percent of the expenditures.
Conner shared a breakdown of local revenues, which showed that real estate and personal property taxes together make up nearly 98 percent of all the money the county receives locally, with nearly 88 percent of it coming from real estate taxes alone.
“It’s quickly evident that we are very dependent on real estate taxes,” said Conner.
The county is always looking at ways to cut expenditures, she said, but while the budget has been “pretty steady” over the past seven or eight years, mandated expenses have continued to increase.
Conner suggested that the board take another look at a meals tax as a way to raise revenue without increasing real estate taxes. She said a meals tax is the only source of revenue the county has available to it that it’s not already using. Instituting a meals tax would require a voter referendum, she said. A referendum was previously held in 2014, with county voters turning it down by a nearly two-to-one margin.
Supervisor O.J. Cole suggested that if a meals tax is reconsidered, it should be allocated for a specific purpose so voters have an idea of where the money’s going instead of just into the general fund.
“It’s easier to swallow a tax like that if you know it’s going for something good,” he said.
Supervisor Jack White said that the most important issue facing Mathews County is the real estate reassessment and the ways in which it will affect the budget.
“We’re really in a holding pattern until we find out what those numbers are going to be,” he said.
Around 25 percent of the county is designated as non-tidal wetlands, said White, limiting development potential “and the growth side of values.” He described non-tidal wetlands as “just another unfunded mandate” that “diminishes our revenue side.”
White said the budget will probably be austere, since the board doesn’t want to increase taxes any more than necessary. He said it would be helpful if new development and growth have improved.
“Under state law, we will equalize the budget,” he said. “If revenue drops, we will increase tax revenue to stay in budget.”
The board accepted public comment during the meeting, but only two audience members chose to speak.
Tim Hill of Mathews urged the board to consider supporting the YMCA’s building program, especially use of the building as an emergency shelter, which would require an additional $100,000 beyond the basic cost of the building.
Describing the Y as “a beneficial part of this whole community,” Hill suggested that spreading the county’s contribution out over a 20-year period “wouldn’t affect a budget that’s already squeaky,” and he added that as residents age, they’ll need support “on and on and on.”
Before he began discussing the YMCA, Hill, who is a real estate agent, addressed the board’s discussion of the reassessment, telling the board that the average sales price for homes in the county has been sliding for the past five years. “It does not bode well,” he said.
Barbara Fleming of Hallieford, chair of the Mathews County Special Education Advisory Committee, expressed concern about the school budget. She said that many special education professional positions were eliminated from the budget in 2009. Staffing levels at that time reflected the need for one-on-one guidance, she said, and since then there appears to have been an increase in that population.
She also expressed support for mainstreaming students, since “inclusion is one of the most important goals of special ed.” The decrease in staff has negatively affected mainstreaming, she said, because the ancillary staff required has been cut.
While the county has “an outstanding staff of dedicated, loving, compassionate people who work tirelessly toward the goal of educating our special ed students,” Fleming said, “you can’t get blood from a stone.”
“For too long, our teachers and paraprofessionals have been asked to make bricks with straw,” she said. “It’s time to put them back on the top of the priority list.”