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Special Called Board of Supervisors Meeting (Wednesday, May 21, 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 1:00p.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
Information: A. School Board Budget Presentation
Before Dr. Leslie began her presentation, she made the Board aware that the school received their tax bill on Monday for a higher amount than they had anticipated and she didn’t believe the amount was correct. Staff and UHY Advisors did some investigation, and it appears that their W-2s filed in 2023 contained errors, so the amount on the tax bill was incorrect. She explained that they have spoken with the tax office, and they will refile those forms so hopefully nothing additional is owed.
Dr. Leslie explained that the information presented today will revolve around the school’s Fund 1 which includes categories: Instruction, Administration, Attendance & Health, Pupil Transportation, Operation & Maintenance, Facilities, Other (Debt Service, Transfers), and Technology. Their other funds (Fund 2: special appropriations, Fund 3: federal allocations, Fund 4: nutritional services, Fund 5: federal CARES) will not be presented in detail during this presentation, however she stated she would touch on Fund 3 a little bit to discuss overbudgeting previously on this and how that will be absorbed into the local budget.
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She provided the Board with a chart that includes the projected increases in each category in comparison to last year. She explained that there’s a large increase in Administration, Attendance & Health but that has to do with a mandatory contract payout and it’s not due to adding another position into that category. Dr. Leslie then went through each category in the budget, listed the percentage increase, and explained what’s included in the category that caused the increase. She went into further detail for the instruction category as there are a lot of subcategories that make up the total percentage increase. Her full presentation can be accessed in board docs.
Dr. Leslie moved forward and stated that federal allocation, Fund 3, did not decrease for FY26 but the FY25 anticipated federal funds were overestimated. She stated that the budgeted amount for federal dollars (which includes positions the school pays out with federal funds) was much higher than what was actually coming in, so she wanted to capture that missing amount as there would be an amount the County would have to pay out with local funds. She presented a chart that showed the percentage increases and decreases across the federal funds.
To conclude her presentation, Dr. Leslie provided a revenue/expenditure overview for the school and explained that the total County funds requested last year was $15,305,050 but they were only given $14,885,244. This year’s request is $16,237,355 which is a 6.09% increase from what was requested last year and a 9.08% increase from what was allocated last year to the school. Chairman Haynie asked how much the school has overspent in their current budget. Dr. Leslie explained that right now they have UHY working on this right now and she did see a reimbursement go out for a little over $400,000 so that should be returned to the County at some point to help offset some of the overspending. She stated that UHY is continuously working on this, pulling every invoice, so at this time she does not have a final number to provide to the Board.
Chairman Haynie asked how long it takes to get a federal reimbursement back.
Dr. Leslie stated that she didn’t know the answer to that question as she has not been in her position long enough to witness the walkthrough of a reimbursement from submission to approval. She believes a month would be reasonable.
Vice Chairman Brann appreciated her presentation but explained that the contingency fund is already down this year due to overspending and staff is not going to get any salary increases based on the draft budget that was presented to them. He stated that other departments have cut a lot out of their budget to try to balance things out for the upcoming year and he doesn’t believe the Board can grant the school what they are requesting. Mr. Brann does not think that their
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request is doable. He understands that Dr. Leslie has put a lot of time into this presentation but asked that she go back to the School Board and have their request reworked so that it’s more realistic.
Supervisor Long stated that the Board of Supervisors needs to do all they can to take care of the kids and teachers. He asked what happened to summer school.
Dr. Leslie stated that summer school was cut last year for this year’s budget, so when the budget was reworked for the 2025 school year, summer school was removed from the original proposal to the final proposal.
Supervisor Long believes this is hurting a lot of students.
Vice Chairman Brann asked what the school’s proposal does to the County budget and the tax increase.
County Administrator Tadlock stated that the County would still be looking at the $0.08 tax increase, but one other revenue aspect that he’s discussed with the Commission of Revenue is the County’s assessment ratio on vehicles. Over the last couple years, that number was lowered to 35% because of the values on vehicles due to covid. He stated that a lot of those vehicle values are going back down now so the County is considering increasing that back to 40% and by doing that, it generates about $350,000 back in revenue. With that revenue in mind and including the school’s request, the County would be dipping into the undesignated fund balance about $1.3M, which would leave approximately $1.6M remaining but that does not include any supplemental appropriation requests from the school division for this fiscal year. He asked the Board to understand that all of the numbers provided are estimates. Mr. Tadlock also explained that the numbers he provided does not include the potential cut list that he provided the Board. Vice Chairman Brann stated that another concern of his is the County trying to build back up the County’s contingency fund.
Supervisor Fisher agreed with Mr. Brann and suggested perhaps giving the school some guidance on how much to cut.
Chairman Haynie agreed.
Supervisor Williams asked about the well replacement for $390,000. He stated that he talked with Mr. Jeff Brann, former Director of Facilities & Maintenance, because there were conflicting ideas at the last meeting about what needed to be done to satisfy the DEQ requirements. Supervisor Williams stated that Mr. Brann informed him that the County is only required to
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abandon one of those wells at this point and not replace them, both of which are connected, and both are capable of supplying water to both school buildings.
Dr. Leslie stated that she received an email from the engineer today and they believe the wells are connected but they are not certain.
Supervisor Fisher does not believe that they were originally connected.
Dr. Leslie shared some cost estimates provided by the engineer, which was $8,000 for the study and $20,000 per well if they have to dig the wells. She explained that information was just sent this morning, so she hasn’t had time to look into that further. Dr. Leslie doesn’t believe there’s a firm understanding of the situation yet but she’s still under the impression that the wells are connected; they have to figure out the connection, and then one of the wells will need to be abandoned while the other one is used to supply water to the schools. She stated that the best-case scenario would be not needing to dig a new well and the worst case would be to dig one, and the engineer suggested that the school go ahead and budget for both wells at the worst-case scenario.
Supervisor Williams stated that Mr. Jeff Brann informed him that he did not know where the $390,000 figure came from.
Dr. Leslie stated that she cannot answer that question as she was not in this position at the time. She stated that the engineer quoted her around $20,000 per well.
Chairman Haynie stated that the Board has already set aside $110,000 last year for the wells so if $20,000 per well is the quote provided by the engineer, there should be enough money to cover those wells already placed in the budget. He is curious where the $390,000 came from because it’s highly inflated.
Supervisor Williams stated that’s a fairly accurate number so you would think it would be on paper somewhere.
Supervisor Fisher asked if Dr. Leslie could check into whether the wells were connected and when that took place.
Dr. Leslie stated that the engineers will be looking into this for them and she will forward that information to the Board once she receives it.
Supervisor Williams asked what the status is of the Superintendent’s position, Assistant Superintendent’s position, and the Finance Director's position.
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Dr. Leslie stated that they are actively looking for a Finance Director and the Assistant Superintendent is being discussed internally. She stated the Superintendent position is not being advertised.
Vice Chairman Brann asked why the school is actively looking for a Finance Director. Dr. Leslie explained that they posted the position, then took it down, and then put it back up because some of the fear that comes with this is that when UHY leaves in a couple of weeks, the school won’t have someone to pick up that position. She stated that she would hate to see the County spend money to get something fixed and then it become a problem again. She’s personally concerned about the transition once UHY leaves.
Chairman Haynie asked if UHY was proceeding as expected.
Dr. Leslie stated that they have been wonderful and really great to work with. Vice Chairman Brann asked where the County is in the process because right now both the school and the County are duplicating the effort as far as who’s in charge of the finances. County Administrator Tadlock stated that there’s a draft MOU that the County Attorney provided, so it’s just a matter of reviewing that with the Board of Supervisors and the School Board and then making a decision.
Chairman Haynie stated that they need to have a meeting on this immediately because July 1, 2025 is right around the corner.
Supervisor Fisher asked what the Board’s direction is to the School Board as far as the budget. Chairman Haynie stated that they need to go back and look at it because the budget presented is unacceptable.
Supervisor Fisher asked what is acceptable.
Chairman Haynie and Vice Chairman Brann stated they need over a $1M in cuts.
Supervisor Fisher stated to tell the School Board that, so they know what to come back with.
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Supervisor Long stated that if they can’t meet that goal, they need to bring back what they have. He’s disgusted that they don’t offer summer school anymore and they can’t keep cutting if they’re going to run a good school system.
Action, Discussion: B. Budget Discussion
County Administrator Tadlock provided the Board with a second updated draft budget which still includes the $0.08 cent real estate tax increase proposed and the School Divion’s budget request. He reminded the Board that this does include approximately $350,000 in additional revenue that the County would anticipate revenue from vehicles changing that percentage from 35 to 40%. The total proposed budget with all department requests is $49,130,222 with a remaining undesignated fund balance of $1,686,039. Mr. Tadlock explained that this does not factor in any other supplemental appropriation requests from the school division. He stated that he could go over the potential reductions with the Board if they would like as these are not included in the draft budget. Mr. Tadlock informed the Board that one item that does need to be done is scheduling the public hearings for both the County budget and the School Board budget. Vice Chairman Brann asked why the Board couldn’t advertise the worst-case scenario and hold a public hearing on that and then make cuts from there.
Chairman Haynie stated that they could.
Motion to advertise the FY26 County Budget and School Board Budget public hearings for June 5, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.
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. Mr. Tadlock stated that he could go through the potential reductions list if the Board would like but it is still a work in progress.
Supervisor Long asked if they are still receiving information from the departments. Mr. Tadlock explained that some of the departments have come to the Board to present their requests but if the Board wishes to have some of the departments come back, they could request that they come back.
Supervisor Long would like to see the departments come back and help with some of the reductions.
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Vice Chairman Brann stated that if the Board has any particular questions for a department, they could request that they come in.
Supervisor Long agreed with Mr. Brann.
The Board requested that a meeting be scheduled with the School Board on May 27, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. for discussion on the MOU related to the County taking over the school’s finances. Chairman Haynie asked Dr. Leslie if she thought the School Board would meet with the Board next week.
Dr. Leslie stated that she would reach out to her Board to see if they are available. Action, Information: C. VMRC Abandoned or Derelict Vessel Grant - Bridge Creek Payment Authorization
County Administrator Tadlock stated that the Board has been removed on Bridge Creek and the County just received that invoice. He explained that the grant needs to be closed out this month so he asked if the Board would consider authorizing a handwritten check for that invoice.
Motion to authorize that a check be handwritten in the amount of $255,000.00 to Docks of the Bay for the removal of the abandoned vessel on Bridge Creek.
Motion by: Chip Williams, second by: James M. Long.
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 joint meeting with the School Board on May 27, 2025 at 1:00 p.m.
Motion by: Chip Williams, second by: AC Fisher, Jr.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Aye: James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr.