FY27 Special Budget Meeting Overview -Councilman Williams 3/10/26

Wednesday was our 2026 special budget meeting/ presentation to go over the FY27 town manager’s proposed budget.  Below are some highlights:

• The general fund budget as proposed does not include a tax increase.

• The water/ sewer proposed budget includes a major increase of $14 a month which ends up being $42 a quarter.  The new quarterly bill if passed would be $428.

• The Town Manager gave an overview which followed recent individual presentations to Council Members.  

• We were given our first draft copy of the budget at the beginning of the meeting so it was a bit hard to review hundreds of lines on the spot.

• We did our best to ask questions but I stated we needed time to review and come back with any suggestions. 

• Just a reminder that the draft budget is provided by the town manager but council has final say and is ultimately responsible for your tax dollars. 

INCLUDED IN BUDGET

• 3% cost-of-living increase

• 10.8% health insurance increase

• Electricity cost for town up 46%

• Expenses continue to outpace revenues

• Several positions were eliminated from the budget, including: one reverse intern, a part-time assistant, parks maintenance crew member and grant writer. A senior planner position was deferred.

• One new position is being requested, which is a public general position for public relations/Web/grants/social media coordinator.

• The water budget is $73K short.

• Sewer budget is $181K short.

• The top reasons we were given for the dramatic rate increase proposed was because in prior years we didn’t raise our rates to keep up with inflation and poor plant management.

• Water sewer, connection fees are down by roughly $80k which combined is with higher electricity costs are the primary reasons we are being asked to raise rates. 

• I told the town manager in our individual meeting that if “we” were going to blame prior management for our problems we will need to assure the public the problem is fixed and we will not continue to hear that excuse in the future.  

• I asked if the crossing guard issue was addressed in this budget and the town manager said they were discussing using the parking enforcement person to double as a crossing guard.  I also re-raised concerns regarding who could actually legally act as a crossing guard (more to come).

• Just a reminder, last year we balanced our budget by using one time funds. 

• This year the biggest reason the proposed budget does not have an increase is because the school ADM average daily membership went down by $265k.

• Since I commonly get asked about how we are maintaining our equipment, I asked if public works is doing anything to ensure longevity of our equipment and the answer was yes we are regularly maintaining our equipment.

• The town CFO stated another thing we’re doing to mitigate equipment maintenance costs is by using maintenance contracts when making big purchases, example the water sewer SCADA system.

• There will be more to come but staff was asked to provide proof of projected electricity rates and to see if they can reduce any other costs e.g. contingency costs.  In order for water sewer rates to not be dramatically increased someone would need to find a way to make cuts or absorb the electric and other increased costs. 

As soon as a copy of the budget is available, I will post it. Your feedback is aways welcome.  

Councilman David Williams

Please email or call with questions or comments:

dwilliams@colonialbeachva.gov

540-604-4335