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Botetourt County subcommittee outlines FY27 budget process after staff flags $13 million shortfall
Summary
County staff told the budget subcommittee preliminary revenues for FY27 are about $94.1 million while departmental requests and task‑force recommendations totaled roughly $107 million, leaving an estimated $13 million gap; the panel set a schedule to review 40 departments in hour‑long sessions and will post supporting documents online.
Botetourt County officials on Tuesday reviewed the FY27 budget outlook and set a timetable for department‑by‑department scrutiny after staff said recommended expenditures exceed preliminary revenue estimates by roughly $13 million. Katie Davis, who presented the budget overview for county finance staff, said preliminary revenue projections total approximately $94.1 million, supported primarily by local sources (about 84.3 percent). She said the budget task force’s aggregated departmental request began near $107.9 million and the task‑force recommendation was approximately $107.1 million, leaving a gap Davis described as “about $13,000,000.”
The calendar Davis outlined calls for the county administrator’s review to finish, followed by budget subcommittee sessions through April 10, a public review April 29–May 13 and a planned budget and tax‑rate adoption on May 26. Davis described internal guidance given to departments: eliminate or reduce nonessential expenditures, require stronger cost justification, cap non‑personnel operating increases at 3 percent, and include operating impacts for capital requests for the first time.
County Administrator Gary LaRue said the county’s review is still in progress and that his office has already been making cuts. “We are, probably just over halfway, maybe 60% done,” LaRue said, describing the process by which the task‑force numbers are refined and adjusted at the department level before the subcommittee and full board weigh in. He noted that some figures for the school system arrive earlier in the cycle and are handled in part as placeholder amounts until final school requests are settled.
The draft FY27 recommended budget includes a $5.6 million capital improvement program that Davis said carries operating impacts; she said the two largest categorical areas of requested spending are public safety (30.7 percent) and education (30.3 percent). Staff told the subcommittee that preliminary revenue declines are driven in part by lower hotel tax receipts and weaker investment earnings but that meals tax was expected to increase slightly.
Officials said options for closing the gap include additional cuts during the administrator and subcommittee reviews, drawing from reserves or changes to revenues, though Davis emphasized that reserve use is governed by the county’s fund‑balance policy and that balances are currently above the policy minimums. “There are guardrails in place,” she said.
The subcommittee adopted a format for department reviews designed to encourage public participation: one hour per department with 30 minutes for a department head overview, 10 minutes for subcommittee discussion, 10 minutes for public comment and a 10‑minute transition break. Staff said a schedule and supporting documents will be posted to the county finance web page and linked to by the county’s communications staff once county administration completes its review.
The subcommittee’s next step is to complete the county administrator review and begin the scheduled departmental review sessions; a public hearing and planned adoption remain on the calendar for late May.
