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Special Called Board of Supervisors Meeting (Wednesday, May 14, 2025)
Northumberland County, Virginia
Members present:
James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr. Other Staff Present:
Mr. Luttrell Tadlock, County Administrator
Mr. Drew Basye, Assistant County Administrator
Ms. Morgan Wilson, Executive Assistant
Ms. Mary Dodson, Benefits & Bookkeeper Administrator
Mr. Carl Hayden, IT Technician
1. Opening of Meeting 12:00p.m.
Procedural: A. Call to Order
The special meeting was convened by Chairman Haynie and held at the
Northumberland Courthouse located at 220 Judicial Place, Heathsville, VA 22473.
2. County Administrator Items
Discussion: A. Budget Discussion
County Administrator Tadlock provided the Board with the draft FY26 County budget and explained that there is still a lot of work to be done; however, he wanted to get something presented to the Board on paper sooner rather than later. The FY26 proposed budget total is $47,248,158. Mr. Tadlock stated that for the most part the proposed budget before them today does include the departmental requests as they were submitted, but it does exceed the revenue and dips into the general fund balance. He explained that the school has not submitted their budget to the County yet, so the proposal has them at level funding. The proposal does not include any salary increases or bonuses, nor does it include any additional positions that were included in last year’s proposal. Mr. Tadlock stated that the proposed real estate tax increase is $0.08 ($0.74/$100) as the tax rate was $0.66/$100 last year and stayed at $0.61 for quite a few years.
Mr. Tadlock went into further detail related to the unassigned fund balance and that is estimated at $3M. In FY24, the audited balance was $7M and going into that fiscal year, it was anticipated going into the undesignated fund balance around $2.7M, but the $800,000 in expenditures at the school was unanticipated which also affected that balance. Additionally, $385,000 was
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unanticipated which was unbudgeted supplemental appropriations for this fiscal year, FY25. Mr. Tadlock also reminded the Board of an appropriation request coming from the school division that is nearly $1M, and if that gets approved that would drop the unassigned balance to $2M. County Administrator Tadlock explained that he also has a revenue anticipation resolution included in the Board’s packet for them to consider and approve so that when it does come time to borrow money, he and the Treasurer can move forward in doing so. He then shared the health insurance increase as approved by the Board in the amount of $66,732 (4.3% increase) which includes employees as of March 2025.
Mr. Tadlock stated that the budget requests are being evaluated, and he’s started to sit down with department heads to discuss any potential savings. In previous years, the Board has advertised the proposed budget as presented which included department requests and then the Board makes cuts after the hearing is held, so this is a different route than what they’ve done in the past. He reminded the Board that there was just recently a CIP public hearing, and the plan totaled $3.9M. Right now, he explained they are considering the CIP vehicle request ($155,765) and the CIP school request ($390,000) for well replacement which may need to be re-evaluated. Mr. Tadlock explained that the school’s current debt service amount is approximately $24M with $2M payments each fiscal year and the debt service for the regional radio system is approximately $5.5M with an annual payment of $507,000. He then presented a table that gave the FY26 expenditure estimates with their associated percentages of the budget. The full presentation can be accessed in board docs.
Supervisor Williams asked if the CIP projects mentioned for reevaluation are included or not included in the budget.
County Administrator Tadlock stated that the two projects are tentatively placed into the proposed budget.
Supervisor Fisher asked what the deadline is on the well replacement.
Dr. Leslie believed that the deadline for the abandonment of the well is in March 2026. Supervisor Fisher asked if the County was going to receive any help with funding from the state on the well replacement.
County Administrator Tadlock stated not that he is aware of. The school was looking into any potential grants, but he doesn’t believe there were any available.
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Chairman Haynie asked Dr. Leslie if she was aware of any funding assistance available. Dr. Leslie explained that there was a grant that staff looked into last year but as she’s been following DEQ’s website, they have not reposted that grant opportunity yet. She stated that the school’s Director of Facilities is scheduling for an engineer to come by to give some further information as far as the cost for the replacement. Dr. Leslie thought this had been done this week, but the Director of Facilities responded to her stating that he has not come yet. She stated that she understands there are funds earmarked for this project, so it’s possible that the project could come in under that amount, but they need the engineer to come out to determine the cost. Mr. Tadlock stated that currently there’s $110,000 earmarked in the Capital Improvement Plan fund for the well replacement, but that’s the only funding that’s been identified. Vice Chairman Bran stated that he’d like to review why the well is being condemned and if it’s an issue, what the water quality is. He’d like to better understand their process. Supervisor Fisher believes that both wells were condemned and would like DEQ to address these questions. Mr. Fisher asked Dr. Leslie if the School Board decided to install one new well to serve both schools.
Dr. Leslie explained that to her understanding they were going to have one of the wells serve both schools while they work to install the other well.
Supervisor Fisher asked if both of the wells got condemned.
Dr. Leslie stated that she believes they did, but she doesn’t have that information with her tonight, but she’d be happy to provide them with the appropriate documentation related to the condemning of the wells by DEQ.
The Board explained that they were under the impression that the school was going to install one new well that would service both schools – elementary school and middle/high school. Supervisor Williams asked if the departments are coming before the Board at all. County Administrator Tadlock explained that some departments have already come to the Board but if there are other departments that the Board wishes to present further information, we can request that they do so.
Supervisor Williams stated that he would like to be kept up to date with the progress of those departments.
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County Administrator Tadlock understood and stated that as he goes through the requests with the departments, he’ll begin to generate a potential cut list for the budget and present that to the Board, so they’ll have that prior to the public hearing this year.
Dr. Leslie informed the Board that she heard back from the Director of Facilities, and they will be abandoning one well.
Supervisor Fisher stated that he believes they are abandoning two wells.
Dr. Leslie stated that this may be the case, but this will be over the course of time, and right now they will just be abandoning one well. She ensured the Board that she would send them all the documentation related to this for them to review.
Chairman Haynie stated that the engineer will have to evaluate the wells before a solution can be made.
Supervisor Williams questioned the $390,000 because originally they were discussing replacing two wells, and if they are not, $390,000 is a lot of money just to replace one well. Vice Chairman Brann stated this is why the Board needs the information from the engineer. Chairman Haynie asked Dr. Leslie to provide the report from DEQ to the Board related to the abandonment of the wells.
Action, Information: B. Resolution - Revenue Anticipation 2025
A RESOLUTION
REVENUE ANTICIPATION
WHEREAS; the Board of Supervisors of Northumberland County wants to provide its citizens with the best sound financial management, and
WHEREAS; the same Board of Supervisors wants to do everything possible to follow the expenditures and not exceed any specific line items in the budget, and
WHEREAS; the same Board of Supervisors has adopted the FY 2024-2025 county budget, and
WHEREAS; the same Board of Supervisors anticipates the collection of taxes and revenues for the current year but may have to borrow money to meet the current year appropriations, and
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WHEREAS; the Code of Virginia in 15.2-2629 allows a locality to borrow money in anticipation of revenues where the principal amount of the notes may not exceed the anticipated revenues for such year,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, THAT THE Northumberland County Board of
Supervisors does hereby declare that in anticipation of the collection of tax revenues, authorizes the County Administrator and Treasurer to negotiate a note, at the best possible interest rate, in order to borrow money in the amount needed to meet expenditures, provided that the principal amount of the notes will not exceed the anticipated revenues for fiscal year 2025, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this note will be paid off no later than December 31, 2025, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution is hereby adopted on this day, May 14, 2025.
Motion to approve the revenue anticipation resolution for 2025 as presented to the Board.
Motion by: James M. Long, second by: James W. Brann.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Aye: James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr. Action, Information: D. Transfer of Funds - School Board Request
Dr. Leslie explained that they are requesting a transfer from Building & Site to Technology in the amount of $142,683 which would allow the technology category to make it through the end of the year as far as anticipated expenditures and payroll. She stated that money is available in Building & Site because there was going to be an excess of funds at the end of the year in that category.
Chairman Haynie asked how many other categories were going to be in the red.
Dr. Leslie stated there’s a number of categories that will be in the red. She explained that this th
transfer would have the school with sufficient funds through May 30 , however by the end of June there would be some accounts that would fall into the red. This includes using transfers to take the federal, state, and federal CARES accounts back to zero and in order to do that they’d have to deduct that funding out of the instructional account, which would mean by the time they th
reach June 30 , they’d be in a deficit of about $500,000 in that account. She stated that there is money in other categories, so the overall deficit for the end of June would be about $270,000.
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Dr. Leslie explained that’s the reason they were hoping to request a supplemental appropriation in the amount of $350,000 - $400,000 which would make sure the school has sufficient funds by the end of the fiscal year and give them enough money to start employing UHY Advisors or some other company to help assist with getting the finances sorted out because they are in dire shape at the moment. Dr. Leslie stated that she wasn’t sure what else they could do at this point and without an appropriation, she cannot request those services because there isn’t enough money in the accounts. Another thing that UHY Advisors would do is look into some of the reimbursement revenue that has been discussed because there are a lot that have yet to be filed which can help offset some of these monies. She hopes UHY can get the school in a position where they wouldn’t have to request the worst-case scenario from the Board that she presented at the last regular meeting.
Chairman Haynie asked how much the services from UHY will cost.
Dr. Leslie explained that they gave them until mid-June because they feel they can get the school in a good position by then and it’s about $40,000.
Chairman Haynie asked if there was anywhere in the school’s budget where they could pull the $40,000 from.
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Dr. Leslie stated there was not because by June 30 the overall budget will be in the red. Supervisor Williams asked Dr. Leslie for some clarification on UHY facilitating some of the reimbursements.
Dr. Leslie explained that they can track down what’s been requested, what hasn’t been requested, if the reimbursement has been received and where it went. She stated that she’s unsure of the time lag as far as whether the reimbursements requested now would be received by the end of the fiscal year, but to her understanding that money would be put back on this fiscal year. Vice Chairman Brann stated that the Board doesn’t really have much of a choice because they could bring someone in here for $40,000 and they find over $1M. He referenced $2-3M that was supposed to come back in reimbursements, and he doesn’t know if it was ever received. He stated that money could be out there, and it could make a big difference.
Chairman Haynie agreed.
Dr. Leslie stated that $40,000 is what UHY quoted her for all the way through mid-June, so it is possible that it would exceed that amount once they assess at that point.
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Chairman Haynie stated that the Board would go ahead and appropriate $40,000 to get them started and see how much money they can find, and hopefully they’ll find enough money to offset any additional costs there but if not, the Board will reassess the situation then. Supervisor Williams asked Dr. Leslie what her best guess is of how much in reimbursements are outstanding that she knows about at the moment.
Dr. Leslie stated that’s a difficult question because the federal reimbursements are on a 15-month period so the numbers she’s pulled today for what is outstanding could potentially go into next year.
County Administrator Tadlock asked what category the $40,000 would need to go to. Dr. Leslie stated that she believes it would need to go to Admin & Health.
Action, Information: C. Supplemental Appropriation - School Board Request
Motion to approve a supplemental appropriation to line item 30-6000-6200(Admin & Health) in the amount of $40,000.00 for assistance with the school finances from UHY Advisors Mid-Atlantic Inc.
Motion by: Richard F. Haynie, second by: James M. Long.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Aye: James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr. Action, Information: D. Transfer of Funds – School Board Request
Motion to approve a transfer of funds from 30-6000-6600(Building & Site) to 30-6000- 6800(Technology) in the amount of $142,683 to cover anticipated expenditures and payroll in the Technology line item through the remainder of the fiscal year.
Motion by: James W. Brann, second by: Chip Williams.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Aye: James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr.
3. Closing of Meeting
Action: A. Carry Over
Motion to carry over to the special called meeting on May 21, 2025 at 1:00 p.m.
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Motion by: James W. Brann, second by: James M. Long.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Aye: James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr.