By a vote of 4-3, the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors approved $95,573,367 in general fund expenditures for fiscal year 2027 during its budget work session held last Thursday night in the colonial courthouse. Board chair Ashley Chriscoe, Nick Bonniville and Shannon Hanson were the dissenters.
The board also voted to bring the real estate rate to 0.583 cents per $100 of assessed value at a vote of 4-3. The new rate is projected to generate $3 million in additional real estate tax revenue.
The meals tax rate was adjusted from 4 to 6 percent at a vote of 5-2, with Chriscoe and Bonniville dissenting. The cigarette tax was enacted at a rate of 0.02 cents per cigarette. Hanson was the sole dissenter.
At the beginning of budget discussions, Chriscoe discussed the county’s civic contributions that appeared in the budget, showing an increase of $115,186. This was brought to Chriscoe’s attention by Interim County Administrator George Bains.
“I thought our plan was to not add any new or increase,” said Chriscoe. “However, according to our budget line items, they have been increased and we have added a few more civic contributions.”
At the direction of the board, county staff included the full requests of its departments and community partners alike at the beginning of budget season. Staff did not receive direction before Thursday night to decrease the amounts allotted for community contributions.
Supervisor Joe Leming asked what the board’s policy is for evaluating nonprofit funding requests. The board does not currently have strict criteria used for evaluating these requests. Bains said that staff will begin working on a policy for community contributions for next year’s budget cycle.
“I’m going to have a difficult time agreeing to add new,” said Chriscoe. “I’m also going to have a difficult time agreeing to increase funding over last year’s level.”
“Many of these organizations requested inflationary increases,” explained Deputy County Administrator and Chief Financial Officer Maria Calloway.
Chriscoe said he would support funding the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society ($13,000 increase) and Bay Transit ($16,134) at their full requests, while providing level funding to the other organizations. This would amount to a savings of $86,052 for the FY27 budget.
Boat tax
Hanson asked the board to reconsider implementing the boat tax, stating her worry about putting all the burden on the real estate tax.
“A lot of these marinas have boats that are from other communities,” said Hanson. “They don’t live here. They’re not paying into our infrastructure or tax base or homes here. To me, I just feel like that you can’t tax one and not the other.”
The rest of the board did not agree with Hanson, but opted to take a look at the boat tax again anyway. Implementing a $1 boat tax rate per $100 of assessed value (recreational only) would generate $586,827.
“That’s if every one of those boats remain here to be taxed, which is not going to happen,” said Chriscoe.
“We would likely lose a reciprocal, if not more, on other taxes that are generated in the county,” said Leming.
Public comment
Several people spoke out during public comment period about the budget, concerned about taxes being raised or new taxes being implemented.
“I ask that you guys take your time, vote no tonight,” said Matthew Nash of the Ware District. “Take the time and try to figure out something different without having to raise all the taxes.”
“I hope that everyone is united and that there is consensus that the boat tax is not something that’s going to help the economy of this county,” said Jeff Branflick, owner of Severn Yachting Center.
“I’ve enjoyed watching this community grow because of the boats and all of the businesses that have thrived,” said William Kilgore of Yorktown, stating that if the boat tax is enacted, boaters will stop docking in Gloucester.
“I believe the budget requires a more rigorous line by line assessment of all requested expenditures,” wrote in Michelle Stone of the Gloucester Point District. “While supporting schools and utilities is paramount, the same level of scrutiny applied to tax percentages should be directed toward identifying feasible spending reductions before implementing new or increased taxes.”