Outside agencies ask Essex supervisors for increases in local support; requests range from operating boosts to capital grants
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Summary
At a March 4 Essex County budget work session, more than a dozen outside agencies summarized services to county residents and asked for increased or continued local funding—requests included operating increases, transit support, historic-theater restoration and regional shelter staffing.
Dozens of outside agencies told the Essex County Board of Supervisors on March 4 that local allocations help leverage state and federal funding and sustain services across health, human services, arts and tourism.
Middle Peninsula Northern Neck Behavioral Health executive director Amanda Campanola said the board’s local match requirement to the state performance contract will make Essex’s FY27 contribution roughly $63,900, an increase of about $2,149 over last year. "We delivered more than 28,000 services to 358 Essex residents," Campanola said, listing early intervention, crisis support, recovery services and same-day walk-in appointments at the county clinic.
Bay Aging CFO Tinsley Goat and Bay Transit director David Volz asked for modest increases tied to rising labor and insurance costs. Bay Aging requested a 3% increase to the county allocation for health and aging services (about $10,306) and a 3% increase for housing-related allocations (about $17,734). Bay Transit asked the county for roughly a 3% increase for demand-response services (about $6,000) while reducing its deviated fixed-route request by $10,000 because of service changes.
Rappahannock Community College vice president of finance Russ Carmichael thanked the board for past support, said county headcount rose to 259 students, and requested a 3% increase (about $9,276). Carmichael also announced a March 24 groundbreaking for a new health-science facility that will host allied-health programs in partnership with VCU Tappahannock.
Several nonprofit cultural organizations sought support for expanded programming and capital work. Tim Manley of the Essex County Museum and Historical Society requested a sizable increase to support major anniversary programming and an incoming traveling exhibition; Beth Sharp of the DAW Theater Foundation requested $21,718 to complete phase‑one work that would enable a historic‑tax‑credit application for a $143,436 project. Paige Connor Totaro of the Tappahannock Artist Guild asked the county for $4,500 to match town funding and leverage a Virginia Commission on the Arts matching grant.
Service providers said county funds are multiplied by other grants. "Every dollar contributed by Essex in FY25 translated into $35 of services to county residents," Bay Aging’s CFO said of the leveraging effect for state and federal programs.
Regional service providers also urged support: Gloucester Emergency Shelter Team board chair Linda Hodges said GEST operates a winter shelter serving 10 counties, that about 11% of this season’s winter-shelter guests were from Essex, and that GEST seeks $5,000 from each participating county to expand staff. Erica Dutcher of Love Thy Neighbor reported that the pantry distributes roughly 1,000,000 pounds of food annually and served 54 Essex households in 2025; the pantry said it used a formula ($1.55 per pantry visit) to compute a county request but did not read an exact county-ask figure aloud.
The board asked presenters clarifying questions about service geography, employee residency and how county funds are leveraged; members also asked staff to provide historical fee-and-revenue comparables (for example, dog-tag sales and business-license receipts) as they consider outside-agency allocations.
The session was informational; supervisors made no appropriations or formal commitments at the March 4 meeting. Presenters were invited to provide follow-up materials and the board directed staff to include refined estimates in the next work session.