Inside A3 Benefits staff recognized by board
Powhatan, Virginia B1 Powhatan baseball field to be renamed
Vol. XXXV No.. 37
March 16, 2022
Supervisors get first look at budget proposal By Laura McFarland Managing Editor
POWHATAN – The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors recently got its first introduction to the fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget and the potential challenges ahead. During the board’s workshop on Monday, March 7, county administrator Ned Smither didn’t jump directly into a detailed line item review, instead leading members through an overview of what some of the significant changes and issues will likely be in the coming months. The proposed FY2023 budget Smither presented last week calls for a total of $91.25 million in expenditures, which is an increase of about $5.43 million from the FY2022 adopted budget, or 6.3%. The discussion touched on a wide range of topics, including county employee salaries, staffing requests, school funding, debt capacity and more. The board discussed some topics more than others and asked for additional data on a few, but no firm decisions were made or indicated this early in the process. Smither said he anticipates that this year’s budget
process should not be nearly as busy as in 2021. Last year, the board adopted a 10-year budget that is supposed to be a good guide for the future. Although it won’t be as busy, he said, it still “does have some significant moving parts.” Looking to the future, Smither said the county is “not flush” but staff has a plan for a general structure that keeps it $3 to $4 million above its minimum. Tax rate Smither showed a chart comparing Powhatan’s property tax rate, which is currently at 79 cents, to Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover and Goochland counties. Powhatan currently has the lowest rate (the comparison with Goochland includes the Tuckahoe Creek Service District, which brings up the overall average rate for the county). The county administrator talked about the Powhatan supervisors’ stated goal to keep a set tax rate rather than going up and down each year. If the board continues to go this direction, people will still likely see an increase on their tax bills because of increased assessments. Even if the board decides to keep a flat rate, Karin
Carmack, who represents District 5, pointed out the current board has made a conscientious effort over the last two years to lower the tax rate by a total of 9 cents. Chair Mike Byerly, District 3, said the world has changed dramatically and the board of supervisors is “absolutely 100% going to do everything they can to keep the budget in line to be as conservative as possible” knowing there could be hard times ahead. Bill Cox, District 4, raised concern at the workshop, as he had at a previous meeting, that the tax rate and the possibility of lowering it again did not even seem to be a point of discussion in the face of current financial challenges and unknowns. He also raised concerns about starting so late on the budget, but Smither offered a timeline of the 2021 budget schedule that showed overall similarities between the two. Smither did point out that this year’s proposed budget includes a change to the Tax Relief for the Elderly program. The budget proposes to double the exemption maximum from $800 to $1,600. This means that qualifying homeowners with assessments less than $202,530
Going up: teen shares love of elevators PHOTO COURTESY OF JANE CENTOFANTE/UVA
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Powhatan teen Henry Boyer is incredibly passionate about elevators. Recently, employees at Priority Elevators invited him to visit their office and then the completion of a project at the University of Virginia Medical Center, where he got to observe final work being done.
By Laura McFarland Managing Editor
POWHATAN – Life is often compared to an elevator with a great many ups and downs. But when 13-year-old Henry Boyer steps into an elevator, the ride itself is one of the ups. The Powhatan Middle School seventh grader loves elevators – how they work, what they look like and how they are put together. “I like all of it. I like hearing the motors if it is hydraulic. I like looking at the pictures and seeing how they feel. Possibly judging the indicators and seeing the condition they are in,” he said. Although there was the start of an interest at a young age, Katie Boyer said her son’s fascination with elevators has been growing in the last year and a half since he started watching online videos about them and steadily increasing his knowledge. Henry is on the autism
PHOTO BY LAURA McFARLAND
Elizabeth Dewey, a sixth grader at Powhatan Middle school, shows off a complimentary color quote piece she made that is on display in the Youth Art Month exhibit. The show will run through the end of April at the Pocahontas Landmark Center. See more photos Page 6A.
see SUPERVISORS, pg. 4
School board considers staff cuts, tech deferrals By Laura McFarland Managing Editor
spectrum, she explained, and has the ability to hyper focus on interests and sometimes become a bit consumed by them. Fortunately, while she admits there have to be limitations in place sometimes to keep Henry’s enthusiasm in check, embracing his love of elevators as part of the family’s lives allows them to see the world differently through him, she said. For instance, during a visit with relatives in Massachusetts last summer, Katie and her husband Steve planned a trip into Boston. But while many tourists would have their sights set on the city’s many historic sites, they created a different kind of itinerary that got her son more interested in traveling than usual. “When you go to Boston with Henry, you see a completely different Boston. It is the elevators of Boston. We are going to the Boston Public Library, which is a
POWHATAN – The Powhatan County School Board recently got a look at an updated fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget proposed by staff that includes more than $660,000 in reductions made to create a balanced budget. During the meeting on Tuesday, March 8, Dr. Eric Jones, superintendent, offered an updated proposed budget that showed some significant changes from the last time the school board discussed the challenges they were facing. After holding two all-day workshops with the school board in February to review the budget, Jones informed the members he would bring back a balanced budget in March. At the time, it was projected staff needed to cut $683,904 from the budget. The proposal Jones brought forward last week did include some significant cuts: elimination of 10 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions for a savings of $543,074; deferring replacement of Chromebooks for grades three to five for a savings of $320,503, and reducing memberships and travel by 20% for a savings of $36,353. The 10 FTEs staff suggested cutting are an assistant director of human resources, a special education lead teacher, a computer technician, a parent resource coordinator, and six instructional assistants. Not all of the changes staff proposed in the updated budget were reductions. The school board had already been mulling a 5% salary increase to take advantage of partly-matched funds proposed in the state’s budget. However, the board also looked at how its employee compensation compares to other school divisions in the region and
see ELEVATORS, pg. 5
see CUTS, pg. 6