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Northumberland County
Joint Finance Committee Meeting
Thursday, April 23, 2026 - 5:00 p.m.
General District Courtroom- 220 Judicial Pl., Heathsville
Statement of Purpose:
The purpose of the Northumberland County Joint Finance Committee is to continue to build trust and accountability between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board with regard to County and school division finances and to identify strategic issues and opportunities that drive effectiveness and efficiency in and across the administration of the County and its School Division.
Co-Chair John Kost called the Joint Finance Committee meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. in the General District Courtroom located at 220 Judicial Place, Heathsville, VA 22473.
1. Review and Approval of Minutes from 3/5/2026
Motion to approve the minutes from the Joint Finance Committee meeting on March 26, 2026.
Motion by: Chip Williams, second by: James W. Brann.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Aye: James W. Brann, Chip Williams, John Kost, Carolyn Crockett, Heather
Cockrell
2. Status of County/School MOU extension
Mr. Kost asked if the updated MOU has been approved by both Boards.
Mr. Tadlock stated to his knowledge it has been approved by both Boards, he just needs one more signature on the original document so he can get that distributed. The final MOU is as follows:
This Memorandum of Understanding is made and entered into this ___ day of ________ , 2026, by and between the Northumberland County Board of
Supervisors (“Board of Supervisors”) and the Northumberland County School Board (“School Board”).
WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors and School Board share a common goal of ensuring the efficient use of local, state, and federal government funds;
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WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors and School Board desire to work together in an equitable, fiscally responsible, sound, and mutually supportive manner, supporting the County School Division, the County administration, and all citizens of Northumberland County;
WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors desires to provide additional support for and oversight of the financial operations of the Northumberland County School Division; and
WHEREAS, the School Board agrees to accept additional support for and
oversight of the financial operations of the Northumberland County School Division.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual promises and covenants
contained herein the Board of Supervisors and School Board agree as follows:
1. The Board of Supervisors has created the position of County Finance Director. The County Administrator has developed the job description for the County Finance Director, to include responsibility for managing the finances of the County and the School Division.
2. The County Finance Director will employ and manage Finance Staff members to provide financial services to the School Division.
3. The County Finance Director and Finance Staff shall report to the County Administrator or designee and the Board of Supervisors. They also shall provide to the School Board, Superintendent, and relevant School Division staff in a responsive and timely manner all support reasonably necessary for the efficient financial operations of the School Division. Upon request, the Superintendent shall be entitled to receive from the County Finance Director and Finance Staff, all information and records relevant to the financial operations of the School Division.
4. The School Division shall submit any contract with an associated cost, invoices, personnel changes, new employee hires, employee terminations, proposed or accepted changes in funds requested or received from the federal, state, any local government sources other than Northumberland County, and any donations or grants, within 10 business days from the date of notification, receipt, or action, as the case may be, or at the next available meeting of each board.
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5. The County shall include in its annual budget, starting in FY27, the electrical costs associated with Dominion Energy for the School Board Office located at 6958 Northumberland Highway, Heathsville, VA 22473.
6. The County Finance Director and County Treasurer shall meet regularly (but not less frequently than once a month) to ensure that school and county accounts are being properly reconciled, federal and state reimbursements are being requested promptly, and other financial issues are being promptly and satisfactorily resolved.
7. The Board of Supervisors shall include in its annual budget an amount sufficient to fund the salaries, benefits, and expenses of Finance Staff dedicated to the School Division, which the Board of Supervisors agrees to include in its annual County budget appropriations.
8. Nothing herein shall be construed to usurp or contradict the School Board’s authority pursuant to Article VIII, § 7 of the Constitution of Virginia and §§ 22.1- 88 and 89 of the Code of Virginia, to control the expenditure of funds
appropriated to it.
9. This Memorandum of Understanding shall replace the previous Memorandum of Understanding entered into between the parties dated July 2, 2025, with a term ending on June 30, 2026.
10. The initial term of this Memorandum of Understanding shall be the date of execution noted above through June 30, 2028, unless terminated earlier by a majority of each Board as in a quorum.
3. Update on FY27 County and School Division budgets
Mr. Tadlock stated that the County has been holding departmental meetings and there are several options of the budget that Dr. Pica will be presenting to the Board tonight at the special meeting.
Mr. Kost asked if the budget process is occurring much later in the year this year. Mr. Tadlock stated it’s around this time of year that staff begins the departmental meetings. He explained that the County typically provides an initial budget in March-April time frame so they may be a little behind on that part of the process.
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Superintendent Leslie made the committee aware that the school nutrition budget is not included in the budget as it has separate guidelines. She stated they are still working on the school nutrition budget at this time.
Mr. Kost asked if the school nutrition budget would be completed in the next two weeks. Superintendent Leslie believed it would be.
4. Available CIP funds and intent for spending or dedicating them this
year
Mr. Kost asked about the Capital Improvement Plan and asked if staff had any idea of how it will impact the FY27 budget.
Mr. Tadlock stated not at this time as the CIP public hearing will be held on May 14, 2026.
Mr. Kost asked about additional revenue indicated by Dr. Pica and asked if the revenue was actually identified.
Dr. Leslie stated that they have identified additional revenue, but where it will be spent is still up for discussion between the Board of Supervisors.
Mr. Brann stated that the Board is going to discuss this very soon and asked Dr. Leslie if she could explain to the Board how she has the budget laid out for the playground. Dr. Leslie stated that she can be prepared to discuss this at any time with the Board. Mr. Kost mentioned the CIP request from the Sanitary District and highlighted how the Plant Supervisor marked their needs as urgent.
Mr. Brann understood and stated that he wants to hold discussions on the playground because if there are other needs pressing, they need to be looked at as well.
5. Status and next steps for equalization process
Mr. Tadlock stated that the deadline to schedule an appointment with the Board of Equalization was on April 15, 2026, so that has passed. The last hearing date is
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scheduled for May 11 , and as of right now everything seems to be on schedule, and they hope to wrap up around that time.
Mr. Kost asked if Mr. Tadlock could project beyond when the numbers are final and asked when the Board of Supervisors will be involved in the process again. Mr. Tadlock explained that they have received some preliminary estimates from the Commissioner of Revenue that he feels comfortable with, so they have enough information to move forward.
Mr. Kost asked the Board of Supervisors representatives if they were going to make any changes to land use at this time.
Mr. Brann stated that the Board left this with the Commissioner of Revenue for him to bring some information back to them on what he suggests and go from there. He explained that it’s too close to fiscal year end to make any changes this year as this would cause further delays.
6. VDoE Audit findings update
Dr. Leslie explained that the Virginia Department of Education has not submitted the final report to them yet.
Mr. Kost asked if there would be any financial penalties associated with the findings. Dr. Leslie stated that there shouldn’t be any financial penalties, but there are some things that will need to be addressed. She mentioned that once they receive the report, they will meet with the VDoE to develop a corrective action plan to address the issues they have and share it with the committee.
Mr. Kost brought attention to the corrective action plan from the forensic audit and made the committee aware that he was asked to create a spreadsheet showing the corrective items and their status to date. He stated there will be a point in time where Dr. Pica and Dr. Curran will come in and present those items along with several other procedural changes. Mr. Kost stated that he has not requested that this be put on schedule yet, but he anticipates this occurring sometime before July.
7. Update on ERP project RFI
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**Dr. Dave Curran, Dr. Anne Curran, and Dr. Karen Pica arrived at the meeting at this time.
Mr. Kost explained that Mr. Dave Zinder presented his system (DaveWare) for permitting so they can get an idea of what they need to look for in a new system.
Dr. Anne Curran stated that there are shadow systems all over the County, so they are going to pull them into the process and make sure they are included.
Mr. Kost asked where the shadow systems came from.
Dr. Curran stated that one is with Social Services and they are going to reach out to them with the vendor’s name because they are unsure. Another system was QuickBooks. Dr. Curran stated they are still gathering a list of what the needs are and she has a list of vendors who are ready to receive them. She explained that she’ll provide the RFI for everyone to review and then they can decide if it’s ready to be published. Mr. Kost asked about the likelihood of it being published by April 30, 2026. Dr. Curran stated that it is probably going to be a week late as they have a second lesson on DaveWare next week. She explained that they have a number of vendors who want to do a high-level demonstration before responding to the RFI.
Mr. Kost asked about the timeframe.
Dr. Curran said two to three weeks.
Mr. Kost asked about Social Services and the shadow system they use.
Dr. Anne Curran stated that their system has what it needs to provide information to the state. She believes they need to do a deeper dive on the system like they are doing with DaveWare to determine what their needs are.
Dr. Pica stated they have a payroll system too in addition to the finance system and the County funds both of these.
Mr. Kost asked if there are maintenance costs associated with the systems. Dr. Pica explained that she hasn’t been able to look into it that far because they just found out about the system today at 1:00 p.m.
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Mr. Tadlock stated that he’s sure there are some sort of maintenance fees, but he’s unsure what they are. He explained that they could get this information for the committee. Ms. Dodson stated that she is aware that they just switched to this system for payroll in January.
Dr. Dave Curran stated that they’d have to look at their contract as it’s fairly new so they may be bound by it for a few years.
Dr. Pica made the committee aware that there’s a big amount of money that is going to need to be moved across categories or they are going to run out of funds in Administration and Health. She explained that it’s challenging to get the accounts to balance because when she move monies between line items, the account goes into the red due to money being placed in the wrong accounts.
Mr. Kost noted that it seems like more of a procedural issue rather than a financial issue as the money is not being abused.
Dr. Pica agreed and stated that the money is just sitting there, but in the incorrect accounts.
Dr. Dave Curran mentioned that this is becoming an efficiency issue as they have to wait for the next Board of Supervisors meeting to ask for transfers, which causes a delay. He wondered if the school could have the autonomy to move money to sort it out. Mr. Kost isn’t sure that’s legal and believes this will be a very insignificant problem if at all next budget cycle. He asked Dr. Pica to assess his concern.
Dr. Pica agreed, stating that this will not be an issue next year because they are going to correct the chart of accounts and propose that the Board approve an annual appropriation in full with certain controls in place.
Mr. Kost asked Chairman Brann for the Board of Supervisors what their comfort level was for changing the appropriation process from quarterly to annually.
Mr. Brann stated that is something they are going to discuss as a Board at one of their work sessions this year. He explained that in the meantime, if the Finance Department needs to move money between categories, the Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting to get this done so they don’t have to wait until May and cause delays.
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Dr. Pica appreciated the offer from Mr. Brann but explained that she also has to wait for the School Board to approve the transfer of monies as well.
Dr. Dave Curran stated that the MOU is explicit and the Board of Supervisors have the autonomy to control the finances in the budget. He believes it is a courtesy to the School Board to allow them to review the documentation before it goes to the Board of Supervisors for approval. Dr. Curran does not believe it is a necessity and feels that a lot of this could be resolved through email notifications.
Mr. Brann asked Dr. Curran if he could present this information to the School Board at their next meeting and get them to vote on it. He stated that this would allow the transfers to get to them quicker and help Dr. Pica sort out the funds that need to be moved.
Mr. Kost asked Dr. Crockett, who was present via zoom, what her input was on the School Board being informed of the appropriations and transfers but not requiring prior School Board approval before going to the Board of Supervisors.
Dr. Crockett agreed and stated she is comfortable with this.
8. Demolition of school building in Lottsburg
Mr. Kost brought up the demolition of the old School Board Office in Lottsburg because he stated that the proposed Animal Shelter could possibly fit there, but whatever is decided, that building would need to be demolished. He asked what research had been done on this.
Mr. Tadlock stated that they have not done much research on the demolition of the building itself, however the Board has discussed demolition of the mobile classrooms in the back as that is on schedule to be completed.
Mr. Brann asked if they did an asbestos study on the inside of that building. Mr. Tadlock stated that he believed a lead and asbestos study was conducted several years ago.
Mr. Brann mentioned that a demolition would fall under the Capital Improvement Plan, so they need to prioritize their projects.
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Mr. Kost agreed and stated that he’s not proposing they demolish it right now, but if something comes up where they can use that property for County use, they will need to move fairly quickly. He asked the committee if they had an idea for potential uses for that property and mentioned Chief Bailey’s vision of a larger facility for Emergency Services some day in the future. He asked Mr. Brann for his thoughts on this. Mr. Brann stated that his vision for Emergency Services is that, as the call volume increases, to not house them all under one roof. He believes there needs to be a station at Callao, Heathsville, and one somewhere on the eastern end of the County. He informed the committee that the Volunteer Fire Department is working to build a new fire station, and 10-15 years down the road, there probably will be no Volunteer Fire Department. Mr. Brann feels that the County could help invest into the fire station, so when there is no longer a Volunteer Fire Department, then the station will be a “County” station. Dr. Pica mentioned that the EDC has held discussions on grants for senior living facilities since there is no facility around. She stated that the building may not be in good use for that purpose, but the property may be.
Mr. Kost asked if there was any sort of assessment amongst peers that could be made to understand what it would cost to demolish that building.
Mr. Tadlock stated that they can do some inquiries and research to see what comes up.
9. Next meeting: June 4, 2026???
Mr. Kost asked the committee members if they were available to meet on Thursday, June 4, 2026 at 5:30 p.m.
Mr. Dave Curran suggested the committee brainstorm and prioritize items 6-7 items to keep track of over the next year.
Mr. Kost stated that he is sort of doing that and he’s happy to be the repository for that information.
Dr. Pica believes the financiel issues being faced all stem back to the forensic audit and action needs to be taken on those items listed in the report. She does not understand how a clean audit report was presented every year and then suddenly, the forensic audit showed issues. There were items raised in the management letters that should have caused concern, but they were overlooked. Dr. Pica reiterated that the forensic audit report is a really strong baseline to refer to.
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Mr. Kost asked if the information received from the audits was being ignored or if the information was insufficient.
Dr. Pica believes both.
Mr. Kost asked about the audit contract.
Mr. Tadlock stated that it’s an annual contract. It was put out for bid two years ago and the County only received one proposal back and it was the same vendor who has been doing the audit in years past.
Dr. Pica suggested the County take a look at how the bid is put together since only one bid was submitted.
Mr. Kost asked how much the County spends on the audit each year.
Mr. Tadlock explained that there’s an audit as well as a pre-audit. The pre-audit is typically $30,000-$40,000, but the last couple of years it’s been higher than that as those figures are just an estimate. The audit itself is around $50,000, but if additional work is needed it’s more than that.
Dr. Pica believes there are some contract management issues occurring as well because one of the contracts is double what it should be.
Ms. Dodson mentioned that the price increase was mentioned on a zoom call that the Finance Department did attend.
Dr. Pica also believes there is significant duplication across the pre-audit and auditing contract. Dr. Anne Curran wondered if both are needed.
Ms. Dodson stated that the management letter always stated if the County didn’t have someone in place to prepare and audit the books to give to the auditor, then a pre-audit process needs to be put in place.
Mr. Brann stated that the pre-audit was put in place because the County had manual items that the auditor could not put into their platform to do an audit. Mr. Tadlock explained how the contract cost is derived and Dr. Pica believes that is where the controls are lacking. She stated that they don’t put ceilings on the contracts and they don’t control the hours. She reiterated that the two contracts consist of duplication, and she doesn’t
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understand why they need both if they’ve gotten rid of the manual ledger. She suggested getting someone to come in and process the paperwork needed for the audit rather than contracting with a pre-auditor.
Mr. Williams asked if it was the pre-audit or the regular audit that the County is being charged more than the contracted amount for due to extra work.
Mr. Tadlock stated it was the pre-audit, which has occurred the last several years. Mr. Kost asked when the contracts would come up for renewal.
Mr. Tadlock stated that they receive an engagement letter and take it to the Board for approval. He explained that it would be too late to put this out for bid for FY26, so it would be for FY27 if that is what the Board of Supervisors decides to do. Dr. Dave Curran believes it would be helpful to look at 6-7 counties similar to Northumberland and see what auditors they have contracts with.
Ms. Dodson and Mr. Brann stated that almost everyone on the Northern Neck uses Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates.
Mr. Brann believes they are overstepping a little with this meeting because the pre-audit and anything associated with that has to go to the Board of Supervisors for discussion so they can decide whether or not to have a pre-audit.
Dr. Dave Curran stated that he believes the purpose of this committee is to bring this information to light even if the Board of Supervisors doesn’t decide to move forward with it.
Mr. Kost motioned to adjourn the meeting.