Prince George County reviews FY26 budget; staff project strong fund balance, flag personnel and tax decisions

Prince George County—s Board of Supervisors held its first fiscal year 2026 budget work session in February, as county finance staff reviewed revenues, expenditures, fund balance commitments and a long list of personnel and outside-agency requests that will shape the draft budget to be introduced March 11.

Deputy County Administrator and Director of Finance Betsy Drury told the board the county ended fiscal year 2024 with a fund balance of just over $50.7 million, which represented 37.4% of FY24 expenditures. Drury said that, after previously authorized carryovers and commitments, the county still would have roughly $42.58 million remaining if the school division—s requested $2,082,000 reappropriation is approved for a public hearing next week.

The work session mattered because those fund and revenue estimates underpin the board—s upcoming choices on the tax rate and on dozens of pay, staffing and capital requests. Drury said the county remains well above its 12.5% policy minimum and its 15% target, giving the board room to consider one-time and recurring commitments but leaving key decisions contingent on pending reassessment numbers and state actions.

Drury reviewed major revenue and expenditure drivers and the timetable for decisions. On revenue, she said the county—s current real estate tax rate is 82 cents, personal property tax is $3.90 and the meals tax rate is 4%. She said reassessment work is ongoing and revenue estimates tied to equalization and new construction should be available before the board—s next work session; the county hopes to seek authority to advertise tax rates March 13 after the budget presentation on March 11.

On expenditures, Drury identified several high-cost items and recurring obligations: a projected 11% increase in health insurance premiums (an estimated $377,000 total, about $309,000 to the general fund after related revenue adjustments), a mandatory 3% state-funded pay increase for positions supported by the Commonwealth, and multiple local pay proposals including step increases for all employees, career-development increases for 16 police officers, market regrades for 10 positions and scale adjustments for sheriff deputies and Commonwealth—s Attorney staff.

Drury summarized the personnel requests: 44.5 new positions were requested for FY26 (about 41.3 general-fund positions), with a baseline cost of about $4.2 million (rising to about $4.4 million if pay-scale cost-of-living adjustments are approved). Examples included multiple Fire & EMS positions (a deputy fire chief, fire marshal, five captains, a lieutenant, 15 fire medics and administrative support), police requests (a captain, three officers and a civilian records clerk), and sheriff requests (2.5 deputies). Departmental support requests included senior planner, technical-support manager, and additional social-services staff requested by Ms. Judge.

Regional partner and outside-agency requests also featured in the discussion. Drury recommended roughly level or slightly increased contributions to Riverside Regional Jail (per diem expected to remain at $52) and Crater Youth Care Commission; the Crater Health District requested $50,000 to fund part of an environmental health position for Prince George County. Nonprofit requests noted in the presentation included modest funding requests from the Crater Area Agency on Aging, Hopewell Prince George Healthy Families, Colonial Heights Food Pantry and Central Virginia Legal Aid Society; county staff recommended some for choice-list consideration and declined others as priority recommendations.

Capital and debt items were highlighted: the county will make its first general-fund payment to L3Harris for the public-safety radio project (about $559,000 in FY26), and staff recommended retaining $450,000 for county vehicle replacements and $543,000 for school bus purchases at current levels. Drury said county general-fund debt payments are projected to fall by about $132,000 to roughly $3.8 million in FY26 and school debt by roughly $15,000 to $2.7 million; staff also described current debt-reserve balances and options for transfers.

Drury flagged several contingent items and dependencies: final tax and revenue estimates depend on the county—s ongoing property reassessment, scheduled follow-up meetings with the Commissioner of the Revenue and state actions on mandated pay or bonuses. She said the governor and the General Assembly had proposed or discussed a one-time bonus for state-supported local positions in addition to the 3% raise, but the House and Senate versions differ on timing and amount.

The board handled several procedural votes during the session. The board approved the meeting agenda, which included adding a closed session at the end. Later, the board voted to go into closed session under Virginia Code 2.2-3711(A)(1) to discuss salaries and compensation of specific appointees; after reconvening the board certified that only the matters stated in the motion were discussed. The meeting then adjourned. No substantive budget decisions were finalized at the work session; staff said final revenue estimates and policy choices will be needed to prepare the introduced budget on March 11.

Members of the public and board members asked clarifying questions during the presentation; Drury said staff would distribute a handout summarizing must-do items and expected revenue changes by the following Sunday, and that the board would be asked to finalize priorities by the March 4 work session to enable the March 11 budget introduction.

The board will hold additional budget work sessions on March 13 (to consider authority to advertise the tax rate), March 26 if needed, April 15, and May 6. The tax-rate public hearing is scheduled for April 22, the budget public hearing for May 13, and final adoption for May 27, according to the schedule Drury presented.