James City County proposes $413.1 million FY27 budget, recommends 3'cent real-estate rate cut and a higher local meals tax
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Summary
County Administrator Scott Stevens and Finance Director McCarthy proposed a $413.1 million total county budget (FY27), with a $281.5 million general fund (6.8% increase), a recommended 3'cent reduction in the real-estate tax rate and a proposal to raise the local meals tax from 4% to 6% to diversify revenues and fund schools, capital and personnel.
James City County leaders presented a proposed FY27 budget that would cover operations, capital projects and increased school support while asking residents to consider a narrower real-estate tax rate and a higher meals tax.
"For FY 2027 our proposed budget highlights again our budget in total is $413,100,000," County Administrator Scott Stevens said. Finance Director Share McCarthy set out the general fund figures and revenue assumptions, noting the general fund proposed for FY27 is $281,500,000, an increase of approximately $17.8 million (6.8%) over the current year.
As part of a package meant to diversify revenues away from property tax, Stevens recommended reducing the advertised real-estate tax rate by three cents from $0.83 to $0.80 per $100 of assessed value while proposing that the local portion of the meals tax move from 4% to 6%. McCarthy said each penny on the real-estate tax rate generates roughly $1,825,000 in revenue and noted the 2027 reassessment increased overall values about 10.31%, meaning the proposed cut in the rate would not fully offset the reassessment-driven revenue increase.
School funding is a major budget component: the county's proposed FY27 school operations contribution is $104.5 million, with an additional $16.3 million to cover school debt service and about $7.2 million in cash funding for school CIP requests; McCarthy summarized total county support to the school division at approximately $120.8 million, or about 43% of the general fund budget. Stevens said the county agreed to a multi-year contract with the school division that includes a $4.3 million increase for FY27.
Stevens and McCarthy outlined capital priorities in FY27 and a five-year forecast. Notable capital items in the FY27 proposal include continuing the new government center, a new library branch and a public-works administration center, stormwater improvements ($2.2 million), a recreation-center renovation ($1.4 million) and support for the Grove Community Park. The county also included Cooley Field turf installation (cost cited as about $1.6 million) in the CIP; Stevens said that request will benefit division-wide athletics but noted some of the school's $1.2 million additional ask for lacrosse operations was not fully funded in the FY27 proposal.
The proposed operating budget includes a recommended 4% pay increase for county employees and reflects an approximate 9% increase in health insurance premiums, which the county partially cost-shares with employees. Stevens acknowledged $13.3 million in departmental and outside-agency requests were not funded in the proposed plan.
Stevens discussed increases to outside-agency funding, citing specific amounts: Child Development Resources received an additional $55,000 recommendation to support a facility renovation, Colonial Behavioral Health received an operating increase (~$132,000), and the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail received an increase (~$289,000), which McCarthy attributed partly to a drop in inmate phone revenue after an FCC rule change and to restored staffing the jail can now fill.
Stevens and McCarthy announced three public hearings on April 14 related to the real-estate tax rate, the meals-tax ordinance amendment and the FY27-FY28 proposed budget. The Board of Supervisors will discuss the budget April 28 and could consider it at the May 12 meeting; Stevens and McCarthy said staff will remain available to answer resident questions.
During a lengthy Q&A, residents asked about expected state education contributions (Stevens and McCarthy said allocations depend on final state figures and formulaic distribution), the number and location of vacant positions (Stevens described improved hiring compared with two years ago but noted a few planner and fire vacancies), library-cost sharing with York County (ongoing interagency discussions but no contract change announced), speed-camera revenue (not included in the proposed budget, though school-zone cameras projected about $400,000 annually), and whether AI or automation could reduce the workforce (Stevens said limited AI use is underway but frontline service delivery still requires many employees).
Stevens closed by inviting continued questions, noting budget documents and supplemental materials are available online and that staff will hold additional community sessions if the board requests them.
