Wise County supervisors confront reported $4 million budget shortfall and call for cuts

Speaker 2, an unidentified meeting participant, told the Wise County Board of Supervisors that figures presented at the meeting showed the county ‘‘coming up $4,000,000 short’’ and pressed officials for a concrete reduction target.

The comment came amid an extended discussion in which Speaker 2 asked why a previously agreed plan that ‘‘was gonna be okay’’ now appears to be off course and urged frank answers from staff. Speaker 2 said the board ‘‘can no longer sit back and not have skin in the game and just expect the money to come in and, put a budget on the table and say, oh, they’ll take care of it.’’

Speaker 1 said some departments are already preparing stripped-down budgets and thanked those who brought revised numbers. To avoid inefficiency, Speaker 2 urged that department presentations be scheduled so ‘‘everyone doesn’t have to be here at the same time,’’ and suggested that Mike set up a schedule and time for each department.

Board members repeatedly asked for a concrete target for reductions. Speaker 2 summarized the question: ‘‘If I understood Dolores correctly, we’re coming up $4,000,000 short. Is that our goal?’’ The transcript excerpt does not record any formal adoption of a reduction target or a roll-call vote on cuts.

Next steps recorded in the excerpt were procedural: department heads are expected to prepare further reduction proposals and the board indicated it will hold additional meetings to review those proposals. Speaker 2 and other members expressed urgency about identifying where further savings can be achieved.

No binding decision on specific budget reductions appears in the provided excerpt; the meeting continued into other procedural business.