Buckingham supervisors advertise FY2026 budget; schools seek local funding for phased teacher pay changes

Buckingham County's Board of Supervisors voted on Monday to advertise the county's proposed fiscal 2026 operating budget and to advertise unchanged tax rates, while the school division presented a proposed 2025'—26 budget that relies on a mix of state, county and federal funding and seeks local support for a phased teacher pay-scale revision.

The votes came during a joint work session with the Buckingham County School Board. After presentations and discussion, supervisors approved publishing the budget and tax rates for the required public hearings and approved two small appropriations: increasing Christian Outreach's county funding and allocating $500 to the Town of Dillwyn's fall event program.

The proposed school budget and requested local contributions

Dr. Killen, Superintendent of Buckingham County Schools, opened the school's portion of the meeting with an overview of the division's enrollment and revenue picture. He said the division's enrollment for February stood at 1,733 students K'through'12 and that the division is using a state projection of 1,725 students to build the 2025'—26 budget.

"We have projected this budget based on the most conservative version, which is the governor's budget that was proposed on December 18," Dr. Killen said.

He provided the division's revenue mix for the proposed 2025'—26 budget: 60.2% state funding, 28.9% local recurring appropriation, 8.1% federal funding, 1.2% internal local funding and 0.8% other state grants. For the school cafeteria fund he said federal sources account for 71.2% and the division participates in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which the division has run since 2021.

Compensation and pay-scale proposals

Dr. Killen told supervisors the state's budget proposals (governor, house and senate versions) each included a 3% increase for SOQ-funded positions and additional special education funding in several drafts. The school division is proposing to extend a 3% pay increase to all contracted employees, not only SOQ-funded positions. The division presented these cost estimates: - Total cost to extend the 3% compensation package to all contracted employees: $618,736; state share $329,727; remaining local obligation $289,009. - Proposed step-scale increase (additional step amounts): $135,457. - Estimated additional local cost to meet the new minimum-wage requirements for hourly employees and substitute rates: $40,932 for hourly employees and $53,825 for substitutes.

Taken together with the minimum-wage adjustment, Dr. Killen said the local compensation cost tied to the state proposal and wage changes would total about $519,223.

A separate salary-scale committee presented a phased proposal to reshape the teacher salary scale. Committee materials described compressing the top end of the scale so that a teacher would reach the top by 30 years of service rather than 37'—38 years and spreading the same overall dollars across the scale. The committee recommended a three-phase approach; Phase 1 would address teachers at or above the 30-year mark and was estimated to cost roughly $750,000. The committee said about 49 teachers (roughly 25% of staff at the time of the committee's review) would be affected in Phase 1.

Supervisors and other attendees discussed the recurring nature of salary costs and possible second-order effects. One supervisor warned that restructuring the top of the scale could change retention patterns: "When we roll that down to the 30-year mark, I think one of the second and third order effects is you're going to increase turnover at the 30-year plus mark," a supervisor said during discussion. Board members also asked for clearer comparisons with neighboring districts'scales and noted any local commitment would be recurring if used to fund salaries.

County budget actions and highlights

County staff presented the proposed county operating budget totaling $72,302,206, a figure the presenter noted could change when the school division's final numbers are available. The administrator said the recommended budget assumes no county tax-rate increase and includes a $226,000 contingency; staff reported health insurance and retirement rates held steady for the coming year.

The county's presentation listed several highlights and one-time items: reserve transfers previously set aside for schools and EMS have been moved into operating lines in the recommended budget; about $800,000 of one-time receipts from a solar siting agreement (identified in presentation materials as a recently approved project) were placed into reserves; and planned investments include server replacement ($60,000) and funding to complete reassessment costs ($227,000 remaining of a $377,469 contract).

Votes at a glance

- Motion to increase Christian Outreach county funding from $3,000 to $5,000: approved (vote recorded as 7-0 yes). Motion and second: not specified in the transcript. Notes: motion carried; funding change is recurring unless the board later acts. - Motion to allot $500 to the Town of Dillwyn for its Halloween/trick-or-treat event (conditional on the town holding the event): approved (vote recorded as 7-0 yes). Motion and second: not specified in the transcript. - Motion to advertise the proposed FY2026 operating budget for public hearing (as presented with the edits discussed): approved (vote recorded as 7-0 yes). - Motion to advertise current tax rates (no change recommended) and set public notice: approved (vote recorded as 7-0 yes). The amount and rates read into the record were: public service corporation $0.60 per $100 of assessed value; personal property $4.05; machinery and tools $2.90; merchant capital $1.00; aircraft $1.10; and the state corporation commission assessed rate at $4.05 (per presentation).

Discussion, next steps and context

Supervisors emphasized that advertising the budget and tax rates begins the statutory public-hearing process; the board will hold a public hearing on the budget on April 21 (the transcript lists the public hearing as the next scheduled meeting date). Several supervisors cautioned that any local funding for recurring salary costs should be considered carefully because local appropriations for salaries become recurring obligations.

Dr. Killen said the school division will return to the board with updated figures once the General Assembly and governor finalize the state budget and the division has updated ADM (average daily membership) projections. Several supervisors asked for additional materials, including the committee numbers behind the salary-scale proposal and comparisons with neighboring divisions.

Ending

Supervisors closed the session after taking the advertised-budget and tax-rate votes and scheduling the public hearing. School and county staff said they would provide requested details to board members before the public hearing.