Williamsburg City Council's taste is exceptional, but its management is mediocre (Opinion)
Prior fund manipulation brings City’s capital improvement plans into question
This guest post is opinion and commentary. The views expressed by the writer are not necessarily those of the Williamsburg Independent. Don’t agree with this opinion? Or have something else you want to share? Email us at contact@williamsburgindepedent.com.
Recent comments by city leadership signal a yearning for the California-style exceptionalism to justify ever-increasing spending fueled by soaring housing values, tax increases and historic levels of debt. It also includes higher water rates (which were also raised last year), continued higher meal and hotel taxes, plus a new tax on admissions, including Colonial Williamsburg. As residents in California have seen, unrestrained spending leads to unsustainable levels of debt and seemingly endless tax increases.
While justifying their spending spree, the city council settled upon the theme of exceptionalism more than once at their regular meeting on April 9, 2026. For example, City Council Member Stacy Kern-Scheerer commented, “And one thing I do think about is Williamsburg doesn’t aspire to be average. So a lot of times when people think of like ‘well what’s the average X or the average Y’, I’m like ‘how would it really go if Williamsburg aspire to be average.’ I actually don’t think that very many people here would be very happy about that.”
At one point at that meeting, Council Member Barbara Ramsey asked: “I mean, who wants to live in a community that is static and be okay with mediocrity?”
Mayor Douglas Pons voiced his agreement: “I think when we look at this budget, you know, sure we could cut a whole lot out of it. But we wouldn’t be the city that all of us have learned to love and appreciate and want to be a part of.”
At the council’s work session on April 6, Interim-City Manager Michele Mixner Dewitt stated that the city needed to add an employee to ensure that official communications are “worthy of Williamsburg, so to speak.”
City’s spending outpaces population growth
To put the City’s spending in perspective, I think you have to understand the facts about our population and its growth, or more accurately its non-growth. The City reports that our population in 2020 was 16,017 residents and by 2025 this had grown to 16,030, that’s 13 new residents over the past 5 years. However, since this population count includes about 6,000 William & Mary students, and the population at W&M has grown by about 750 students over this period, then in reality the resident population of the City has shrunk. And while city leadership points to the demands of tourism on city services, this has been the case for many years. Varying estimates indicate that the number of visitors to the region has been mostly flat, if not down in some cases.
Now look at the size of the City government which has exploded over that same period. While the total resident population grew by 13 residents, the City government grew by over 49 people! Expenditures on government activities grew from 2020 at $45 million to a proposed $63 million for 2027, an increase of $18 million or 40%. The City can point to some major capital projects, but these were not solely funded out of current revenue increases but largely from debt which grew from $15 million to over $49 million, with another $50 million in debt coming in the next few years for financing water system improvements and a new 50,000 square foot library.
Cost of living, housing affected by city’s spending
While City leadership talks about the lack of affordable housing as justification for more development, it has also contributed to the high cost of living here. It’s true that the city has one of the lowest property tax rates in the State, and they have not recommended an increase this year either. But the assessed value of property in the City increased from $2.1 billion in 2020 to $3.3 billion in 2025 with additional increases in 2026 and expected in 2027. As a result of these record increases in assessed value, property taxes increased from $14.7 million in 2020 to $26.4 million in 2027, or an 80% increase over that period.
While the City could have reduced the tax rate in recent years, as other localities have done, Williamsburg chose not to do so. Additionally, water rates were raised 30% last year with another rate increase of 7% proposed for next year. The City previously signaled last year that water rates could triple over the next 10 years. Now with no increase in the non-student resident population, the City wants to add another 14 City employees while increasing total general governmental spending to $63 million from $51 million just two years ago. The City Council seems unwilling or incapable of restraining this spending spree.
College costs, for example
As a further example of the City’s seeming disregard for the impact of costs on City residents, the preliminary budget disclosed that William and Mary agreed to pay only $250,000 annually towards the cost of fire and EMS services. There was no public notice of this renewal nor has the City Council approved the agreement. The City provides 100% of the Fire and EMS services for William and Mary, on whose $900 million in assessed real estate value (about 30% of the taxable assessed value in the City) they pay no real estate tax. The General Fund Budget includes $7.1 million for Fire and EMS services, and the City residents are now paying for a new Fire Station without contribution from W&M. Now I’m a W&M Alum, but this hardly seems fair.
Lackadaisical oversight of capital funds
This analysis of the manipulation of capital improvement funding previously approved and appropriated by the Williamsburg City Council is somewhat technical, so bear with me. While you may be aware that the city recently had to take back $5 million from the HTRFA due to improper procedures (to be kind), it turns out that this was not the only manipulation of Capital Improvement Fund monies. The City has admitted that other amounts meant for one purpose were re-directed to other projects without following proper procedures. As the city recently pointed out in response to my warnings, the other moves in question would not be illegal until the funds were actually expended. They state that should the plans move forward, proper appropriation procedures will be followed.
To me, it appears that the City started manipulating the approved and appropriated amounts for capital projects beginning with the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY2025) Budget. I notified them of several other issues where funds were transferred between projects without proper re-appropriation by the City, a situation about which some members of the City Council were likely unaware.
$5M to HTRFA
At the February 12th City Council meeting, and in subsequent correspondence, I challenged the $5 million payment made by the City to the HTRFA. I showed that the transfer had not been approved nor the funds properly appropriated by the City Council, and therefore was in violation of the Code of Virginia. Compounding the issue, I think it’s clear that no one in the City government flagged these transactions as illegal and improper until I did so.
Under State law the City has no authority to re-allocate monies from one approved and appropriated project to something else without a valid permission by the City Council. As it turns out, the $5 million in funds originally earmarked for an “Amphitheater” in the FY2023 Budget, then carried over, were ultimately deleted from the FY2026 Budget. At that time, a new line item was inserted in its place labeled HTRFA in an amount of $5,084,000. That new funding allocation for a differently stated purpose was never appropriated by the City Council.
I don’t believe that this was an “oversight” or administrative error, but a conscious decision by some city leadership. It seems that this strategy was suggested by outside advisors. They noted that since there was no current prospect of moving forward on the Amphitheater, the City could pay that money to help cover the costs of construction of the Regional Sports Center and delay the need for additional borrowing. And that’s what was done. And it was improper.
Ultimately, the City admitted that a $5 million payment violated State law and were forced to recover the funds not long after I raised the issue. The city later reasserted that the money was still meant for the amphitheater. Yet, I believe that recorded comments made by Williamsburg Mayor Douglas Pons on February 13th to a reporter from WHRO indicate that not to be the case.
Municipal Building renovation
In another instance of inadequate oversight, funds appropriated in FY2023 totaling $1,575,000 for the renovation of the municipal building increased by $525,000 in FY2025 and by another $3,860,000 in FY2026. These increases came from funds approved for other capital projects, which were then transferred without the required appropriation from the City Council.
Together with the HTRFA funds, a total of $9.4 million of funds currently shown for prior years have not been properly approved and appropriated and should be returned to the General Fund. The City has responded that “…no actual spending on that project is shown in FY27. If and when the municipal building project is ready to move forward, the Council will have to appropriate the funds for the project and then authorize the actual spending.”
Downtown library project
There is also $4 million carried over in the proposed FY2027 budget for the library project that doesn’t correspond to amounts appropriated last year. The City responded, “The $4 million is a revised estimate that reflects the City’s current expectation for outside funding for the proposed library, down from the combined $10 million shown in last year’s budget as CIP revenue and appropriated in the FY26 Budget.” The City has previously advised that in addition to the preliminary budget for construction costs of $26 million which they intend to finance, an additional $4 million will be required for direct payment by the City. This consists of data cabling and IT infrastructure, shelving, and furniture and equipment. If the $4 million is not obtained from outside sources, the City will need a new appropriation for direct payment of such funds by the City.
The problem is that once the City started manipulating the funds between projects, they lost track of what had been previously appropriated and what had not. The unappropriated amounts should be purged from the CIP and re-appropriated as part of the current Budget and appropriation cycle. While the former City Manager is no longer with us, other City personnel should be held to account.
Unfortunately, too few residents write or email members of the City Council to voice their concerns. Whatever your view, I encourage you to have your voice heard.
About the Writer: During a 45-year career, Robert Wilson worked with senior leadership teams to develop and implement innovative strategic and business plans that have fostered growth and profitability. Mr. Wilson holds a BBA degree from the College of William & Mary, a MS in Finance degree from the University of Arizona, and a Doctorate in Management from the University of Maryland Global Campus.
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