NEWS: York County Supervisors Discuss Suggested Staffing Increases
Also ... capital improvements, debt capacity, regional economic conditions, mid-year budget review & FY26 budget input
At their public meeting earlier this week, the York County Board of Supervisors heard suggestions for future County investments in staffing levels and operational structure. One of the key takeaways was the recommendation to hire an additional 17 full-time employees spread across several departments, including Commissioner of the Revenue, Finance, Human Resources and Information Technology.
The report came from the Berkley Group, a consulting firm that the Board engaged last year, which describes their expertise on their website as “administration, community development and planning, education, human resources, public safety.” The site also states that “100% of our work is dedicated to serving public agencies.”
After the presentation, Board Members provided comments and feedback. District 5 Supervisor, Thomas Shepperd, Jr. spoke first and estimated that the recommendations included in the report would cost anywhere from $4M-$6M to fund. While he lauded the report’s focus on government efficiency, he noted that what can happen instead is “too few people doing too much.”
District 4 Supervisor, G. Stephen Roane, Jr. commented that he felt hiring the recommended number of employees was unrealistic due to budget constraints. He added, “I would look really hard at opportunities where automation, artificial intelligence, contracting work out to other organizations rather than hiring to fill some of these roles … How do we meet our goals and objectives without incurring a lot of labor costs? Because at the end of the day, labor is what drives most of the expenses.”
The Supervisor for District 3, Wayne Drewry concurred, while noting his surprise that the consultants recommended adding 17 full-time employees without providing a financial impact analysis. “Tom over here is guessing 4 to 6 million dollars, it would be nice if we had a better number,” he said.
This feeling was also backed up by Vice-Chair and District 1 Supervisor, Douglas Holroyd who described the report as “very well done from a qualitative standpoint … the concern I had, and of course it’s the business hat that I’m wearing, ‘what’s it cost me?’, ‘how do you measure efficiency?’”
While wrapping up discussion on the topic, Chairman and District 2 Supervisor Sheila Noll thanked the consulting firm’s team for delivering research that she described as “inclusive and well thought out.” She added that “there are some things that we can look forward to implementing and some things we’ll have to think about, more.”
News from Board Retreat held January 31, 2025
Capital Improvement Plan & Debt Capacity
The Board recently saw a presentation that outlines preliminary changes to the capital improvement plan (CIP) over the next 6 years. In terms of services that are paid through the County’s general fund, Schools rank as the highest category in the CIP, totalling nearly $98M. Public Works follows with projected costs over $59M. Other fund sources are expected to pay for aspects of the CIP, including Sewer Utility ($33B) and Stormwater Maintenance ($11.7M).
The Board of Supervisors heard County staff’s recommendations concerning changes to the current CIP. Among the changes, staff recommends removing a firing range project from the CIP, as well as a reduced scope for a new tourism information center, dockmaster and waterfront operations building.
One of the slides included in the presentation indicates that the County expects its GF Debt Service Ratio to increase from 7.21% in 2025 to 9.03% in 2031. This figure represents the percentage of the general fund expenditures used to cover CIP debt obligations. During the retreat, Supervisors received guidance from financial consultants regarding the County’s financial policies and debt capacity. They pointed out that the County’s “debt service as a % of General Fund expenditures [are] limited to 10%.” For comparison, both the City of Williamsburg and James City County allow 12% debt service to general fund expenditures. Overall, the analysts determined that “the County has been in compliance with its debt policies and when factoring in new general fund supported debt, the County is expected to continue to be in compliance.”
The financial consultants also presented information about the County’s unassigned and unrestricted fund balances. They noted that the County typically safely exceeds its 12% fund balance policy as a percentage of total expenditures. The figure given for 2024 was right at the 12% minimum, according to the consultant’s document. When factoring in both assigned and committed funds, the County’s unrestricted general fund balance typically has been at least 20% of budgeted expenditures.
Regional Economic Overview
At the Board’s recent retreat, Supervisors received a joint presentation from the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) and the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO). While the presentation contained a wealth of information on the region, it also had a few nuggets specific to York County.
The County’s civilian work force was 34,429 in November 2024. York County’s unemployment rate (2.9%) remained lower than both averages for Hampton Roads (3.2%) and the Country overall (4.2%). The County’s workforce also grew faster (2.7%) than the averages for Hampton Roads (2.5%) and the Country overall (2.3%)
Other Board of Supervisors News
Mid-year budget review
On January 21, 2025, the Board received a General Fund Mid-Year Budget Review. The presentation notes that 89% of the County’s budget comes from 9 different categories. The current FY25 estimate for major tax categories are:
Real Estate Taxes - $88.9M
Personal Property Taxes - $23.2M
Sales Tax - $14.7M
Historic Triangle Tax - $5.9M
Meals Tax (GF) - $4.6M
Lodging Tax (GF) - $2M
Business License Revenue - $9.1M
Based on the estimates delivered in the presentation, County staff expects a FY25 surplus of $3M (1.6% of total GF budget). The figure would represent the lowest General Fund Surplus since before 2019.
A separate report broke out data for several main service categories which make up the bulk of County expenditures in FY25. School Contributions represent 38% of expenditures, followed by Public Safety (29%), Other Functions (22%), Public Works (6%) and County Capital (5%).
Planning for FY26
Upcoming dates for FY26 budget process
March 4, April 1 - Board Work Sessions 6pm
March 18 - Proposed Budget Presentation 6pm
March 20, April 24 - Additional Work Sessions 4pm
March 25, April 3 - Town Hall Meetings 7pm
April 15 - Public Hearing 7pm
May 6 - Scheduled Adoption 6pm
Citizen Input & Information
Email Comments: bos@yorkcounty.gov
FY2026 Budget Questions/Comment Form: https://form.jotform.com/243305054752148
Call in line: 757-890-3220
Video Shorts: https://www.yorkcounty.gov/558/Budget
TV: Cox 46, Verizon 38
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