Mathews supervisors, meeting last Wednesday in the historic courthouse, voted to advertise a real estate tax rate increase of 10 cents per $100 of assessed value, but emphasized their intent to lower that increase through budget cuts before adopting a budget, and scheduled another work session for 4 p.m. Monday for that purpose.

The rate increase would support both a proposed $26.27 million budget and debt service for a new fire station in downtown Mathews. The vote was 4–1, with supervisor Mike Walls dissenting.

Board members have been struggling with the knowledge that county buildings, particularly the schools but including other buildings, as well, are in various stages of disrepair after having gone without needed maintenance for many years. Staffing expenses need to be addressed, as well, with insurance costs continuing to rise and a recent compensation study showing that many county employees’ salaries are lagging well behind those in nearby localities. On top of all that, a new fire station is needed in downtown Mathews because the current firehouse is in a flood zone, additional space is needed for the larger trucks that are being built, and there is a need for dorm rooms.

Supervisors’ chair Tim Doss had previously expressed the determination to stop the continued decline in the county’s structural assets by addressing the maintenance issues, saying on a number of occasions that a tax increase would likely be necessary. Other board members have acknowledged that necessity, as well.

But the amount needed to fund the proposed budget appears to have shocked supervisors, who expressed dismay and were reluctant even to make the motion to advertise the increase. They concluded, however, that, while they can lower the tax rate after advertising it, they wouldn’t be able to increase it, if necessary. Supervisor Janice Phillips made the motion, with a second by Tom Bowen.

The budget, submitted by County Administrator Ramona Wilson, had reduced funding to the county’s fire and rescue services by a total of $255,500, but board members insisted that the funding be restored. With that money included, the proposed budget comes to $26,269,048. Revenues this year are expected to be $24,741,094, a difference of $1,527,954. Fully funding this $1.53 million deficit would require a tax increase of 7.5 cents per $100 of assessed value, while funding the debt service on a loan to pay for a new firehouse would add somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 cents per $100 of assessed value. Each penny added to the budget generates an additional $210,672 in revenues.

Initial reductions made

During a previous budget work session, Wilson, as requested by the board, provided an “unrestricted” budget that included all increases requested by the school system and all county departments and outside agencies. That total came to $28,034,147, or $3,748,966 over expected revenues, and would have required a whopping 17.7 cent tax rate increase before adding debt service funding.

After seeing the budget numbers, the board asked Wilson to come back with a leaner budget by cutting expenses in various areas. The largest cut she made was to the school system’s request of $10,239,941, which she shaved back to $9,148,400, a difference of $1,091,541. She also cut $309,714 from the $1.79 million in school maintenance funding that the schools agreed to give up in return for the county taking over school maintenance except for custodial services.

Supervisor Dave Jones expressed a willingness to reduce funding for the schools further still, saying the county should look at the state’s composite index as a guideline for funding schools, which would reduce funding by $2.194 million. He said the schools haven’t been transparent with their budget and are providing whole numbers instead of actual expenses.

“A little here and a little there starts to add up,” he said.

Walls agreed, saying, “the schools’ budget, if something isn’t done, is going to bankrupt the county.” He emphasized, however, that any cuts should not come out of teachers’ salaries.

Phillips said education is “how Mathews is going to thrive,” and she cautioned against using the composite index as a guideline.

“Virginia has gone from being one of the top states in terms of education to being 20th,” she said. “Mathews doesn’t have to follow in the state’s footsteps if we can avoid it.” She said she could see reducing the schools’ budget by $1 million, but that she wasn’t sure about $2 million. A 10 percent cut in funding “will send a message” to the schools, she said, “and hopefully that message is, you’ve got to cut a facility.”

Because the board of supervisors did away with the IT department, Wilson cut $174,000 from IT services, yielding an IT budget of $729,476 to cover such things as professional services to remotely keep internet systems up and running ($112,000), software maintenance service contracts ($126,818), a consulting contract for the BEAD funding that’s expected to bring broadband coverage to the entire county ($120,000), telephone and internet service ($115,600), and more.

Wilson also included a position for a full-time IT service technician to provide “boots on the ground” technical support when needed, explaining that administration’s senior executive and deputy clerk to the board Judi Greene is currently spending an excessive amount of time assisting other departments with their IT issues, drawing her away from her assigned duties. Board members didn’t seem inclined to consider this position, which, if not funded, would pare an additional $98,876 from the budget.

Supervisors had an extensive discussion of IT services, questioning Wilson in detail about the cost of each of the dozen licenses the county holds for various pieces of software and about eliminating one of the two companies the county is using to provide essentially the same services.

Mathews Sheriff April Edwards has requested funding for two additional deputies to provide security when a new judge is seated and the number of court dates increases, but Wilson suggested that she instead use some of the funding intended for seven full-time deputy positions, as only three of those positions are filled.

Cuts were also made to the board of supervisors’ budget (-$20,000), the county attorney’s office (-$30,000), the YMCA for parks and recreation services (-$65,000), Mathews Parks and Recreation for VA250 funding (-$5,000), Mathews Memorial Library (-$26,500), and others.