Mathews supervisors got their first look last Thursday at the $39.69 million 2024-2025 budget proposed by county administrator Ramona Wilson, and they were pleased with what they saw.

“Ms. Wilson, you’ve done a very good job preparing this budget, and I want to thank you for that, for all of your hard work and your staff’s hard work,” said supervisor Tom Bowen.

“Yeah, thank you very much,” added supervisor Dave Jones.

“It was a good job. Perfect,” said board chair Janice Phillips.

Wilson prepared a budget with no tax increases and yet was able to give all employees a 3 percent salary increase, add two new deputies, increase the county’s contribution toward the Capital Improvement Plan, and fund an increase in the cost of medical insurance. She said the budget will have to be recalculated and will change slightly when the insurance renewals arrive.

Due largely to grant-funded capital improvement projects, the county’s total budget will increase from $32.24 million to $39...