Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Okay. I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors on Monday, March 23rd, 2026. Our first order of business tonight is to go into close meeting. Be it resolved, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors of Montgomery County, Virginia, hereby enters into closed meeting for the purpose of discussing the following. Section 2.2-3711. Discussion, consideration, or interviews of prospective candidates for employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining, or resignation of specific officers, appointees, or employees of any public body. One, adjustment and appeals board. Two, Agency on Aging. Three, Parks and Recreation Commission. Is there a motion?

So moved. Second. Okay. Madame Clerk, if you'll call the RO, please. Mr. Kits. I. Mr. King. I. Mr. Fijowski. Hi. Miss Biggs. I. Mr. Grassy. Hi. Mr. Kuran. I. M Chair Deontz. I. Seven eyes. We are in closed meeting.

Okay. Is there a motion to come out of close meeting? Motion second. Any discussion? Madam clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. King, I. Mr. Fijicowski, I. Miss Bids, I. Mr. Gravky, I. Miss Karan, I. Mr. Kits. Hi. Chair Deont. I. Seven eyes.

Okay. Next, we need to certify the closed meeting. Whereas the board of supervisors of Montgomery County has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. And whereas section 2.2-3711 of the code of Virginia requires a certification by the board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Board of Supervisors of Montgomery County, Virginia, hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies, and two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion conveying the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the board. Is there a motion?

So moved. Second. Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Fijicowski. Hi. Miss Biggs. Hi Mr. Gravski. Hi. Miss Karan. Hi. Mr. Kits. Hi. Mr. King. Hi. Chair Dematz. I. Seven eyes. Next item on our agenda is a moment of silence and the pledge of allegiance led by our county administrator, Miss Angie Hill.

Please rise for a moment of silence and then join me as I lead us in the pledge. Let us pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Thank you, Angie. All right. Tonight we have um several public hearings on our agenda. The first is an ordinance to temporarily change the A3, E3, and F3 precinct polling places from Squire Student Center to Johnston Student Center on the Virginia Tech campus. And this is for the August 4th, 2026 primary only. Um this is due to construction that is taking place in Squire Student Center. So they're not able to have um the election in that location. Marty, is there anything else that I need to add before I open the public hearing?

No. No.

Okay. Um so we have advertised the public hearing for this subject. Um I did not have anybody sign up on the sheet outside um to speak to this public hearing. Um, if anybody in the audience wants to come forward, we certainly will welcome you to. I'm going to go ahead and read the guidelines for public hearing and public address. We've got them on the um on the screens around the room as well, but this will apply to all of our public hearings this evening and the public address section. So, a public address signup sheet was available outside the meeting room. Um, speakers are requested to provide their name where the where in the county they reside and phone number and list the subject matter. Following the names on the signup sheet, other speakers um will be allowed to come up to the podium. So, you don't have to have signed up in order to be able to speak. Each speaker will have four minutes, whether speaking as an individual or a representative. And all comments must be directed to the chair and other supervisors from the speaker's lectern at the front of the room. Please begin by stating your name and where you reside. And debate between speakers and members of the audience will not be allowed. Um, speakers may leave any written statements or comments to the supervisors with the board clerk and speakers will be judged out of order should they engage in personal attacks, use profanity or abusive language, or debate with the audience and not address the supervisors. Accepted etiquette during public comments is to not applaud or make loud responses. So, we'll open the first public hearing now. As I said, there were not any signups for the public hearing regarding the polling place locations. Is anybody here to speak to this issue tonight? Seeing nobody come forward, I'm going to close the first public hearing and we'll move to our second public hearing, which is a special use permit um for a short-term tourist rental with an ex within an existing single family dwelling at 14:30 Harding Road. Welcome,

Bri. Thank you.

I am going to try to downsize this here. And here we go. There's a lot up there tonight. So, this is a um special use permit for a short-term tourist rental. And this project is located right outside the town of Blackburg. You can see it's indicated here by the star off of Harding Road. This is the aerial and zoning map. You can see it's outlined in yellow here. It does not have direct road frontage on Hardin. It is access to a private access easement. Um this is your zoning map. You can see it zoned R2 residential with most of the property around it. There is some um business zoning here. And um this is actually community business. So, this would be a short-term tourist rental within an existing three-bedroom single family dwelling. This is the layout of the dwelling. Um, they have indicated the exits here. Um, so you can see that's part of their plan that we require for supplemental regulations. This is a picture of the property. The house sits here. This is a photo of the shared drive. It goes up and curves around to take you to the top of the hill. This is the entrance to the private drive. Um, looking towards Blackburg and then looking down towards the bud shop that is on Harding Road. Here is the survey plat of the property. You can see it does have that identified private access easement that goes through the property in front. Um, you can see it here clearly on the aerial and wraps around. And they do have the parking area here. So, the dwelling, as stated, is located

off the public road. Traffic impacts are minimal. Um, they're not expected to be any more than a single family residence would produce. Um, ample parking is available. VOTE has reviewed the request. They took no exception. Um, stated the entrance was acceptable and this is not located in a flood hazard area. This property is served by a private well and septic. Um, the applicant has applied for a conditional use permit through the Virginia Department of Health to allow a higher occupancy um than what would be allowed on a single family three-bedroom dwelling. Um, that would have some limitations on it that the health department would set. Um, so portion of the lot is buffered by natural landscaping and gatherings or parties will not be allowed. Pets are not permitted. Outdoor cameras will be present for security. Quiet hours are listed as 10 pm to 7:00 a.m. daily. The applicant will discuss a management plan with the adjoining property owners and encourage them to reach out at any time should there be any disruptions. Um, fire safety will be addressed during the zoning and building permitting process. That is also part of those supplemental regulations that we tend to have on every short-term tourist rental because it is written into the ordinance. So, it's designated in an area of urban expansion. Um, these areas are generally adjacent to the town of Blackburg. There's a broad range of uses that could be um looked at as being favorable in these areas. It does serve as a natural expansion um for other uses occurring within the town. Here are some of the planning land use, cultural resources, and economic resource goals that we pulled out of the plan um showing that the short-term tourist rental would meet those. So, as stated, the proposed use does meet the regulations outlined in our zoning ordinance for supplemental um

short-term tourist rentals. You can see a lot of those deal with health, safety, and welfare. Um we have things such as property boundaries shall be clearly marked. um no evidence that it is a short-term tourist rental, so it's not something you're going to be able to drive by and easily identify as that use. Um they have to meet all requirements of the firerevention code. They have to post the emergency evacuation plan, which you can see the owner has already provided, and they have to post a copy of the noise ordinance. Um the proposed use does remain consistent with residential use with no more additional impacts. The planning commission discussed this at their March 11th public hearing. Um there were not any citizens present to speak. We may have some present this evening. Um the planning commission did recommend approval 8 to0 with one person absent. And that recommendation came with um the following conditions. Occupancy shall be up to eight occupants. That is pending approval by VDH. We would require that before we issued any permits. Um the property shall be registered with the commissioner of revenues office. Any permits must be obtained by the building department and then those supplemental regulations shall be met per the zoning ordinance. Adjoining owners have been notified. Two public hearing signs were placed on the property. We have not received any inquiries from any citizens and as stated no one was available at the planning commission to speak. Um there may be additional comments here tonight. The owner is also present if you have any questions for him. Um, with that, I'll take any questions you have for me.

Great. Thank you, Bri. Does anybody have any questions for Bri? Go right ahead. Just one quick question. I noticed one of the requirements it says connection to local phone line. Do we still use landlines? So we can they do not have to have a connection to a local landline, but they do have to show us that service is available at the property. Correct. Thank you.

That was a really great question. Does anybody else have any questions? Okay, great. Thank you very much. Um, so this the signup sheet for this public hearing was also made available in the hallway. I understand the property owner is here. Um, you're welcome to speak or answer any questions that any supervisors have. Um, I don't have anybody else signed up besides you. Yeah, I don't have any any statements, but I'm here to answer any questions if you have them. Okay. Um, could you just introduce yourself and say where you reside? Uh, yeah. I'm George Trible. I reside in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Oh, okay. Great. Does anybody have any questions for Mr. Trible?

Okay, great.

Thank you. Thank you for being here this evening. Okay. Would anybody else like to come forward and speak on this public hearing? Seeing no one, I'm going to go ahead and close this public hearing. Um, this is on our agenda for new business tonight. Um, so we will be voting on this tonight, Mr. Trible. Okay. And now we have our third public hearing uh this evening. This is the ordinance adopting the Montgomery Matters Comprehensive Plan for Montgomery County. Mr. Sanders or Bri. Yes, welcome. Bri is going to start and then turn it over to Justin maybe. Okay. Good evening. Um I want to thank everyone here, the board of supervisors, county administration, um the planning commission. As you can see, this has been a long process. Um, it started about 18 months ago. We've come a long way since then. We had many days standing out at public intercepts talking to citizens, hearing the good, bad, the indifferent, um, and everything in between. We've pulled together a lot of information to get where we are. Um, and we have made great progress. So, we are nearing the end. Um we do want to say not only are we excited to share the document but we're excited to report um that we have progressed this project on time um and have remained under budget so far. So that is very exciting. Um the process has given us some unique opportunities. Um we were allowed to share some data and we've been able to collaborate with some other departments um such as the park and recreation department for their master plan. Um, we've given some data to the fire and rescue study. Um, so that actually wound up being very beneficial. So, that has been great. Um, but before I turn this over to Justin, I

want to, um, take a few minutes to recognize some teamwork that has occurred behind the scenes. Um, this was truly a team effort from start to finish and hitting our milestones and keeping things moving forward. That didn't just happen. Um, it took a lot of coordination, a lot of flexibility and and a lot of extra caffeine along the way. Um, there were a lot of moving parts and so you don't just see what's in front of you. There's a lot of things that happen behind the scenes and without people, we couldn't have made that happen. um from organizing and setting up open houses, um talking to citizens, printing things out, um getting the word out through press releases, creating our brand was act which was actually done several months before we even started the comprehensive plan process um and all the materials. It it took a lot of people. So, first I want to thank our public relations and community engagement team. Um we couldn't have even started the process without them. They developed our branding for us. um parks and recreation. They attended several of our open houses and helped us talk to the citizens. They were also right there to jump in and help us tear down and and get stuff packed away for the evening and set up. Um same with environmental services. Um Meredith Jones come to several of our events, talked to our citizens, helped us tear down um and set up, and we couldn't have done that without them. Um they made sure we didn't just check a box for engagement. um they actually helped us connect with people and that was very important because we did want this to be a citizen-driven plan. We also had wonderful support from our consultants EPRC. Um they don't live here in McGomery County. They are from Charlottesville, but you wouldn't know it. They were dedicated from the start. They toured the county. They got out. They spoke to our citizens. They listened to our stories. They listened to the citizens stories. and um they truly treated this comprehensive plan like it was their own for their own locality and that's exactly what we

wanted in a partner and we couldn't have gotten better service. So, we're very happy. And then there is my team of super staff. Um this is my team that keeps things running every day. Um they have really stepped up. They have dedicated over 2500 hours um to the development of this plan. That is in addition to the 2,200 hours that was put into work by the consultant. Um, it's a lot of time, it's a lot of effort, it's a lot of commitment. A lot of them had to do things that were probably outside their job descriptions to help us get through. Um, but they're the ones that do the day-to-day work. They solve the problems. They make sure things don't fall through the cracks. Um, here lately they've kept me upright and on two feet. That's been very important. Um, and somehow they still make it all look easy. So, I also want to give a special thank you to Justin Sanders. Um, he served as the project manager for this. He kept us organized on schedule. He kept me on schedule with a lot of reminders. Um, and he did all that even when I made things complicated by not being at the office as much. Um, and you can imagine that happened quite a bit over the last 18 months. So, um, we truly could not have done it without his leadership. I am happy that some of my staff was able to come tonight. We had some that had some other commitments and at this time I would like to ask them to stand. Um they were shy so they all went to the back of the room. Um but I'm very proud of this team. I'm proud of what they put forward. We could not have done it without them. Um they truly went above and beyond and I thank them. I am very proud of them. And before we clap, I would like to thank Bri because she's awesome and she led this group of people and the consultants did help a tremendous amount too. But without Bri there, even when she might not have been able to do exactly what she wanted to do, she was in their corner and

advocating for them and their project. And I really appreciate all of you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Um, at the end of the day, the plan you have before you is the result of a lot of people who genuinely care. Um, they care about McGomery County and they put forth a lot of work. And I'm so proud now to turn this over to Justin so he can present to you McGomery Matters.

All right, that's a tough act to follow. not just because she's my boss, but um as Bri alluded um from the beginning, the charge that we had from the board of supervisors is that this comprehensive plan would be citizen-driven. Um and I've told you a lot about the different components of the plan over the past several work sessions that I've had with you. Um so tonight I just wanted to focus again just on the process and the engagement that's been done. Um and then talk to you about the work that is still yet to come. So, um, I showed this graphic to you at one of our previous work sessions, but I think it it bears repeating again. Um, we from the beginning of this process really wanted to get in front of the citizens as often and as meaningfully as we could. Um, so we held two large public openhouse events. We did three online surveys and provided paper versions of those surveys through all of our libraries so that people could participate even if they didn't have an internet connection. 25 different stakeholder meetings which engaged over 120 stakeholders, 10 different work sessions with the planning commission, 11 public intercepts in that first summer and fall that we were going through the process. Uh we were all over the county at a variety of different events talking to citizens in person getting their written feedback so that we could integrate that into the plan. Um and then eight citizen steering committee meetings. That was something else from the beginning of the process that was really important to us is that we assembled a very diverse group of citizens that we could use um as sort of our first check and balance on the information that we were presenting, making sure that we were getting things right and making sure that we were engaging all of those constituencies that we needed to throughout the process. And when I say we talked to a lot of people, we talked to a lot of people. This is a listing of all of the stakeholders that were engaged during the McGomery Matters process. Um, we wanted to make sure from the very beginning that we were talking to the subject matter experts. We wanted to make sure that we were talking to the

partners that are in the community doing this work. Uh, and making sure that we weren't one duplicating any efforts that were already existing. Um, but also that we weren't proposing anything in the comprehensive plan that was contradictory to the work that was already happening. Um, one of our main tenants of McGomery Matters was partnerships and relationships. And by working with these groups early in the process, we've solidified those relationships that we can continue to build on as we begin to execute the goals of the plan. So, just as a reminder of the way that the document itself is structured, um, at the very beginning of the process, we wanted to make sure that we had an overarching vision. Um, in the vision statement that you have in front of you are direct quotes and language that we heard from the citizens when we asked them what made Mont McGomery County special to them and what they wanted to see as we went forward over the next 20 years. So, the vision that guided Montgomery Matters, McGomery County is a vibrant and resilient community where forwardthinking collaboration and innovation empower all of our residents to thrive. And throughout the process, we had four core matters. These were crosscutting themes that you'll see throughout the entire plan. We wanted to make sure that the county stayed intentional. We wanted to make sure that we were accessible. We wanted to make sure that we were collaborative and we wanted to make sure that we were resilient. So, as we laid out the plan, we also wanted to make sure that the plan was userfriendly. So, we've organized it in a way um that we talk about the plan and the process first so that anybody that picks up the document knows the steps that we took to get to these final recommendations. And then we broke the plan up into individual parts uh that covered crosscutting themes. So we have our outdoors and culture matters section, our community development section, and our health and services section. Uh what you will see in the next few months is the completion of part five, which is our village plans and our small area plans. Um and we look forward to

bringing that back to you at a later date. But the plan is organized with a series of goals and then strategies to achieve those goals. and then actions that will be made to make sure that those uh goals and strategies can be made reality. And we made sure that all of the actions were smart, that they were specific, that they were measurable, they were achievable, they were relevant, and then they were timely. So again, as I mentioned, we have the parts organized here. Uh part one, the plan and process. Again, talks about our engagement efforts, talked about how the plan came together. Part two, our outdoors and culture matters sections talks about our environmental resources, our historic and cultural resources and historic preservation and our recreation chapter. Part three includes our overall land use vision, our economic resources and development section, our housing matters and our transportation matters chapters. And then part four, our health and services matters. It talks about education, health and human services, public infrastructure, and public safety and welfare. And throughout the plan, we've identified four really big goals that we want to start with with McGomery Matters. Um, and these are what we're calling our prime transformations. These are the steps and actions that are going to have the most meaningful input uh and output for McGomery County over the next 1 to 5 years. Um, so our zoning rewrite, and you've heard us talk a lot about this, our zoning ordinance is from 1999. It no longer functions well. Marty has many headaches with our zoning ordinance. Um, as do our staff. Um, and really the update of the zoning ordinance is going to help us start to achieve these goals, uh, particularly as they relate to land use over the next several years. Uh, Bri already mentioned our parks and recreation master plan. This was an effort that sort of arose from our conversations about the comp plan. the same consulting firm is

working with us on the parks and recreation master plan and that's a shorter term document that's going to be improvements over the next 5 to 10 years. Um, but I will say that our residents identified the outdoors and parks and recreation as their number one priority throughout this entire process. So getting this plan started and getting it executed is going to be very transformational. We also have identified the need for a countywide interconnected trail network. This is something that started even with our last comprehensive plan. In our village plans, we had the vital plan that was the village connection transportation links plan. So the conversation about having trail networks that connect here in the county has been going on for a long time. Uh and our citizens identified that through our village meetings is something they wanted us to continue to prioritize. Um obviously the county has made a commitment to the valley to valley trail. Um has invested in the Huckleberry Trail. So that um that energy, that momentum is going to continue as we work toward that county connected trail network. And then behind parks and recreation and the outdoors, the other thing that we heard the most from our citizens was how we look at growth in the county. Um and what's emerged from McGomery Matters is a strategy to grow in, not out. Uh it's us to look at density, ways that we can better utilize the lands that we have available, where we're growing, where we're investing in infrastructure, and making sure that we're not sprawling out into the farmland and into the mountain areas that our citizens love so much. And Bri did a number of acknowledgements already. I want to take a moment to recognize our citizen steering committee. Again, your charge at the beginning of this process was make sure that this plan is citizen-driven. Um, and the individuals that are listed here uh for our citizen steering committee um represent a cross-section of the county. They represent people who live in the towns and people who live in the unincorporated areas. They represent leaders in their respective fields and they kept us honest during the process.

Uh, and so I want to recognize them by name. Uh Steve Buffudo, Emily Gibson, Andy Cassoff, Guden Kuran, Susan Miller, Beth Obenchain, Debbie Owen, Steve Simonus, Bruce Stanger, Kimstrom, Lauren Tate, and Jess WGO. Um provided an amazing amount of guidance for us throughout this process. I've very much enjoyed working with them um and getting their feedback so that we could make this the best version of the plan possible. I want to thank Mr. King and Mr. Gravki for their service as exeicio members on the steering committee. Their guidance was also very helpful to us throughout the process and Brian Rice who served as our planning commission liaison. Uh and Bri did a great job in recognizing everyone. But again, I want to say thank you to the board um throughout this entire process. You all were showing up to meetings, you were asking the right questions, you were making sure that staff felt supported throughout this process. So, thank you all so much for your time commitment as well. And as I mentioned, we're not done yet. Um, so part five of the plan is still in development. Um, and we have a number of events that are scheduled over the next two months to get more feedback from the citizens as we develop those village plans. So we have our meeting in Eastern Montgomery scheduled for next Thursday, April the 2nd at Eastern McGomery Elementary School. We'll be there from 5 to 7:30 meeting with folks from Shawville and Elliston Lefayet. We'll be in Reiner on Thursday, April the 23rd from 5:00 to 7:30 at Auburn Middle School and in Prices Fork on Thursday, May the 7th from 5:00 to 7:30 at Prices Fork Elementary. We'll also over the course of the next few months be developing our small area plans for meth Bethl and Marramac. Those are the two growth areas that have been identified in the new comprehensive plan. Um, and we'll be developing the future land use map to bring back to you. Um the reason that we're adopting parts one through four is that gives us that guiding

framework so that we can make sure that the village documents are not in conflict with the main comprehensive plan. Um and it allows us to focus our time and effort just on the land use piece which obviously is one of the most important pieces of the entire plan. So, our goal would be for adoption of the comprehensive plan with an effective date of July 1st. And then we will be working on that future land use map, bringing that back to you hopefully in June for public hearing so that we can adopt with an effective date of July 1. And because we have that 1999 zoning ordinance and a brand new comprehensive plan, we're going to be working on a strategy for interpreting between those two documents until we can get a new zoning ordinance adopted hopefully in 2027. And with that, that is all I have for you this evening. I will note that the planning commission uh recommended approval of the plan unanimously and we had no speakers during the public hearing.

Great. Thank you so much. Um we've gotten to see you a lot lately. Yes. Um as you've gone through each chapter with us. So, thank you for your um time and dedication coming here to spend that time with us. Um, does anybody have any questions for Justin before we open the public hearing? That's a good thing. This group, no questions. Thank you. Um, and thank you to all of the planning staff and all of the other people mentioned that helped. This truly is a herculean effort that would not have been possible without many, many people driving it. So, thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate you all.

Okay. and we had a signup sheet in the hallway for um citizens to speak to um this public hearing on the ordinance to adopt Montgomery Matters comprehensive plan. We didn't have anybody sign up. Is there anybody in the room this evening that would like to speak to the comprehensive plan? Okay, seeing nobody coming forward, I'm going to close that public hearing and now we'll move to public address. I do have um two speakers that have signed up for public address this evening and it's my understanding that each of the first two speakers has a presentation. So after we get to uh through the first two speakers then anybody in the room who didn't have the opportunity to sign up will be able to come forward at that time. So the first speaker that we have this evening is Mr. Wayman Pac. Following Mr. pack. We'll have Miss Anna Vayan and Jen will help get your presentation set up. Thank you, Jen, for doing all this.

Welcome, sir.

Good evening, board. My name is Wayman Pac and I live on Piney Woods Road in Riner. And the 2025 annual audit report states that the average county per capita income is 67,711. With this current average county per capita income, exactly how many of those earning that amount or less does this board believe have had their earnings increase by over 15% in four years? We're due for a new reassessment in 2027. Depending on the amount that real estate valuations have increased at that time, citizens could likely see another tax increase as a result. The 76 cents current tax rate plus 5 cents equals 81 cents. This 5 cents is a 6.58% rate increase. That's 76 cents plus another 6.58% equals 81 cents. This budget proposes a 6.58% increase in taxes and a 3% pay increase for county employees. Does this seem reasonable or fair? So, every organization organization chart in the proposed budget shows citizens at the top. It's time to put the needs and concerns of all citizens over the wishes of any one subset. Federal Reserve interest rate reductions cannot be totally replaced by increasing the taxes on citizens who have also seen their interest earnings decrease. Mark McGrder, director of management and budget, made a presentation on projected revenue estimates for FY27. He outlined that most county revenue comes from undesated funds, primarily real estate, personal property, and sales taxes. New revenue growth for FY27 is expected to be about 2.3 million, reflecting a local economic slowdown despite national resilience.

Historically, new designated revenue growth is approximately 2 to3 million per year. Mr. McGrder noted that in FY26, several shortfalls, including declines in personal property taxes, sales tax collections, and interest earnings due to lower rates will reduce the base going into FY27, leading to only about a $1 million overall increase. Is this increase in line with the FY27 projections? FY26 revenue trends, personal property revenues are expected to be less than estimates by $800,000. Sales tax collections are projected to be $500,000 less in estimates and interest earnings are projected to be $400,000 less in estimates because of lower rates set by the Federal Reserve. After the 2023 reassessment, the real estate tax rate was set at 70 per $100. If the current proposed tax rate is approved, this means that the real estate tax rate will have increased 11 cents per $100 over a four-year span. This amounts to a 15.7% rate increase since 2023. 70 cents plus 15.7% equals 81. How much is enough? When will the citizens stand up and convince you that they cannot afford any more tax increases? or where they just give up on being able to afford the necessities of life in order to pay their taxes. Everybody thinks old people have money because they get everything for free. This is a lie. We do get some, excuse me, we do get some things at a reduced cost, but we are also on a reduced income. With inflation and all the property taxes and insurance, many of us are just making it. Our homes need repairs, and that is about the only retirement plan we have, selling our homes. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next we have Annabian.

Welcome.

Thank you. I'm Anna. I'm Anna Vagan and I live in district A. And today I'm presenting some data comparing increases in school and county budgets. This time um separated out by expenditure classification. Um I first looked at expenditures on personal services that is salaries, wages and benefits. I compiled information on the dollar amount budgeted for personal services in FY20 and in FY27 within first the general government portion of the county general fund, second the school operating fund as proposed by the school board and third the school operating fund assuming maximal possible spending on personal services given the county's recommended budget. Um, and I need to mention that for these analyses, I removed funding for fire and rescue, fire and EMS, and the utilities division from consideration. Um, if I had included these budget areas in the FY27 county government expenditures, um, those numbers would be significantly higher. So the highlighted cells, the blue cells show the percent increase in personal services expenditures per resident for the county or per student for the schools. And you can see that if the county recommended budget passes, personal services spending per resident will have increased by 53.1% in the county since FY20, but personal services spending per student will have increased by only 47.7% in the schools. And it would actually take an extra $5.2 million to bring the personal services percent increase in expenditures per student up from 47.7% to 53.1% matching the county.

I did a similar analysis for expenditures on operations and maintenance and capital outlay things like professional services, utilities, fuel, supplies, and equipment. I suspect that most expenditures on these budget items do not depend on the number of residents or students served. So I highlighted the cells that report the raw percent in increase in expenditures rather than the percent increase per resident or student. You can see that the count if the county recommended budget passes the percent increase in expenditures will be nearly identical for the county and for the schools. Now because county population increased and school enrollment decreased since FY20 um the expenditures per resident or per student um do end up different next slide. Okay. Now this slide combines the previous categories of personal services, operations and maintenance and capital outlay. Now looking at the orange highlighted cells, we see that the county recommended budget results in a 51.7% increase in expenditures per resident in these budget areas, but only a 49.1% increase in expenditures per student in these same budget areas in the schools. Um, and remember the county expenditures do not include expenditures on emergency services or the utilities division. It turns out that it would take an extra $2.8 $8 million to bring the percent increase in expenditures per student up from 49.1% to 51.7% matching the county. And my hope is that you want the schools to be able to invest in their employees and students at the same rate that you invest in your employees and residents and that you will work to bring school funding up to levels that match county increases since FY20.

I don't really have time for this slide, but there are some other factors that actually increase school needs above what I've um described. Thanks. Thank you. Okay. And we're going to do one more screen change and then if anybody else in the room would like to come forward to address the board on any item, they can do so. Would anybody like welcome? Please come on up.

We just ask that you give your name and where in the county you reside and you have four minutes. And thank you. Yeah, you probably needed to bring that down just a little bit. It's flexible. There you go.

My name is Ruth Green. I've lived in Blackburg for 37 years now. and I'm with the um New River Valley um chapter of Virginia Organizing. Virginia Organizing is committed to the struggle for better, safer lives for the lowincome families who live amongst us. Everyone needs safe, healthy, and affordable housing. This is not a reality for all of our neighbors. We are here tonight to request the board of supervisors to set up a working group to address a current pressing need in our county. It's getting harder for working families to pay their bills. 25% of adults in the New River Valley area live in poverty, which is much higher than the state rate of 9.4%. This substantial population of local working people is a captive audience who cannot easily afford most of the housing available here and must therefore spend a large proportion of their income on rent for substandard housing that is often poorly maintained. This issue has been documented amply recently by the New River Valley Chapter of Virginia Organizing. The team has canvased many mobile home parks in the area to learn firsthand about residents experiences. Members of the chapter have had contact with over 1,800 residents of mobile home parks in the New River Valley over the past three years. The residents have told the team that they're dealing with issues like mold, holes in the floor, unsafe electrical wires, going weeks without use of essential appliances like stoves, and other issues that affect

their daily life and health and the well-being of their families. These are vulnerable families with little power who are struggling with the rising cost of everything, including rent. These are families with nowhere else to go, with disaster floating over their heads. These are families for whom the quote unquote American dream is simply a mockery, a hazy mirage. One renter told the team that the entrance steps to her home were in such a dangerous condition that her elderly mother could not visit her because she couldn't navigate those steps. The necessary repairs were not made to the property because she couldn't afford to purchase the materials or labor. She reached out to two community organizations that ostensibly helped with repairs, but neither of them assisted her. A funding system is needed whereby monies would be made available to make the necessary repairs to bring lowincome housing units such as the ones I've been describing up to the standard needed to provide a safe and healthy environment for our lowincome working neighbors. There is a comparable program for lowincome renters in the state of Pennsylvania. However, in the New River Valley, there are local home repair programs, but as far as I could tell, these are all tailored for homeowners. A very different population from the lowincome renters that we have been discussing. The county needs to facilitate the funding of repairs that are needed for mobile home renters. We are requesting that the board of supervisors form a working group to make a plan to address

the needs of our most vulnerable fellow citizens. Finally, a lobbyist at the recent 2026 General Assembly referred to the budget before that body as a moral document. I suggest that work initiated We're at the end of your time. If you could just finish that sentence. Okay. I suggest that work be initiated with the aim of producing a comparable moral document for Montgomery County. Thank you. Thank you. Would anybody else like to come forward and speak? Welcome.

My name is Marcy Schnitzer and I'm a lifelong resident of Montgomery County, uh, specifically Blackburg. I'm also here as a member of Virginia Organizing Neighbor Valley chapter. I believe safe housing is a human right, but there are people in this area whose living conditions are unseen by members of the community. Many live in mobile home facilities, which is the only housing they can afford. Some own their homes, others rent. And for these latter people, their landlords do not see their living conditions. They do not see because they often don't respond to requests for repairs. They do not see because their companies are not located in this community. Here's what we've seen. Rickety stairs and porches with holes in them. visible gaps in doors where the weather can come in, dents and holes in the exterior of their homes. When we go out knocking on doors, we realize people are also unheard. They are surprised when we ask them about their repair needs. Here's what we've heard. They live with mold from leaky plumbing. lack of adequate weatherization drives their electricity bills skyhigh. And just a note to say that Medicaid costs and SNAP cuts create even more pressure on affordability. People have appealed for help with accessibility issues and wait over a year before anyone contacts them. Many have come to the conclusion that help just isn't coming. They may be nervous to come here because they've gotten used to not being heard. What will make people feel heard is to

participate in the design of a whole home repair program. They'll feel heard when they are able to interact with county representatives as part of a working group. A working group will bring together people of differing perspectives who may not have seen or heard each other. through a working group. People won't be talked about, but we'll be part of the conversation on issues that directly affect them. That's why we urge you to establish this whole home repair working group for Montgomery County. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else like to come up and speak? And I should have asked the speaker before you, but if you could adjust the mic up just a little bit, we could hear you just fine. Thank you.

All right. Hello. I'm Megan Shepard. I live at 245 Gibson Drive in Christiansburg, Virginia. And I'm here with the New River Valley chapter of Virginia Organizing. Across Montgomery County, members of our community are living in unsafe and unaffordable housing. Our campaign started in 2019. We have since knocked over knocked on over well over a thousand doors as Ruth was highlighting, listening, gathering stories and bringing those stories to you. A theme that emerged from resident stories were unmet repair needs, as you've heard from colleagues, such as collapsing steps, unstable floors, mold from leaks, poor insulation leading to unaffordable utility bills, homes inaccessible to people with disabilities, residents afraid to request repairs due to fear of retribution from landlords. Um, and with recent federal cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, that's going to put more burden on residents of low income status. We've shared you the needs. We shared with you the needs, the urgency, and a path forward. We're asking for a working group where board members and community members work together to design a whole home repair program that reflects Montgomery Countyy's commitment to the housing safety of their residents. As you previously recognized, landlords must be held accountable to which we very much agree. And we consider that securing safe housing a multi-layer approach to and pursuing accountability alone will address those urgent repeat repair needs that are needed now for low-income residents. The goal of the whole home repair program is to provide urgent needed repairs, urgently needed repairs to keep people safely in

their current housing and reduce the likelihood of homelessness. We know there are details to be sorted out with this program, which is why the working group is so important. In action has consequences. When month after month passes without action, it sends a message. It tells low-income residents that their struggles are invisible. It tells residents living in unsafe conditions that their safety can wait. It tells members of our community that their well-being is not worth the effort of taking the next step. We urge you to establish this working group now and show lowincome Montgomery County residents that they are not invisible and their housing safety is important. Thank you.

Thank you. Welcome. Hi, my name is Kelsey Hillyard. I live in Oak Forest, one of the mobile home parks here in Blackburg, Virginia. Right now, my household is dealing with several urgent issues. After the heavy snow this past winter, we began noticing cracks forming in our ceiling along with water damage. It is something we worry about worsening over time, especially with the weather changes ahead. In addition to that, parts of our flooring have started to warp, likely due to moisture, and is becoming both a safety concern and a quality of life issue. We're also dealing with reoccurring mold in our bathroom, which we've tried to manage, but is really requires proper uh mold resistant treatment to ensure it doesn't keep coming back. These aren't cosmet cosmetic issues. They're issues that affect the safety and health of our living environment. At the same time, my husband and I are expecting our first child this June. As you can imagine, we are dealing with every we are doing everything we can to prepare financially and emotionally for her arrival. Between rent, groceries, medical expenses, and basic living costs, it has been extremely difficult to save enough to cover these necessary repairs. We are doing our best, but the reality is that many families like ours are one unexpected expense away from falling behind. And when those expenses involve the safety of your home, it creates a lot of stress and uncertainty. There is also a real sense of urgency for us. We want to bring our baby home to a safe, stable environment. Um, right now that goal feels out of reach without some form of assistance.

I'm here today not just for myself, but for others in our community who may be facing similar issues. families who are working hard but still need help a helping hand to maintain safe living environment. Access to assistance funds or repair program can make a meaningful difference. It would help ensure that our home remains safe, small issues don't turn into major hazards and that their families can focus on stable living instead of constantly trying to catch up. Thank you again for the time, your time, your consideration, and the work you do for this community. Thank you. would anybody else welcome. Hi, I'm Brandy Fogner and I live at 607 Hampton Court in Blackburg and I too am here this evening with Virginia Organizing because things have not gotten any better. They have not gotten better for our lowincome community members who really need home repairs. For more than a year, we have asked you for help. And I admit that I am still quite baffled by the lack of action. I just can't understand why there is no urgency and helping to solve the problems that our community is facing. I'm going to leave with you a copy of Virginia's code section 15.2-958 which explicitly gives localities including counties, towns, and cities permission to establish the kind of home repair program that we are trying to move forward. There is absolutely nothing that stands in the way of your involvement except you. Will it require some of your time and

your effort and your energy? Yes, indeed it will. But our team has devoted three years to knocking on doors. Three years to listening to the people, gathering evidence, hosting forums, thinking about possibilities, connecting people with resources when they need it, and helping people keep the hope. And I know that at least some of you care as much as we do about what's happening to our community members. And we are asking what we have always asked, that you, our elected representatives, join in our effort to make things better. Our team is dedicated to seeing this through. We have directly affected community members as well as community partners who are also ready to work. What we don't have is a commitment from any of you to become part of a workg group that meets to figure out what kind of plan we can put in place to help our community. And so I'm here to ask you for your commitment to the people whose votes you asked for. I am here to ask you to be willing to be part of this working group so that we can figure out how to get people the help that they need. I am willing to work for the people who need it most and I know that some of you are as well. So you have my contact information. I would love to hear from some of you who would be willing to join this working group so that we can move forward with this community-based help. And I will provide the code that I mentioned to the clerk. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anybody else in the room like to come forward to address the board during public address? Okay. Do not see anybody else coming forward for public address. So, we are going to move to the next section in our meeting. Um, we do not have an addendum this evening. Uh, next is our consent agenda. Is there a motion on our consent agenda? Second. Okay. Is there any discussion about the consent agenda? Right. Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Miss bigs. I. Mr. Graphsky. I. Miss Karan. Hi. Mr. Kits. Hi. Mr. King. Hi.

Mr. Pigowski. I. Chair Dematz. I. Seven eyes. Thank you. And next we will go into work session. Uh we have uh one item to discuss in our work session this evening. That's a proposed fiscal year 2027 budget and also to hold a discussion on the proposed budget. Is there a motion to go into work session? So moved. Second. Okay. Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Gravy, I. Miss Kuran, I do. Mr. Kits. Hi. Mr. King. I. Mr. Fijicowski. Hi. Miss Biggs. I. Chair Deamontz. I. Seven eyes.

Okay. And we have a short presentation. Welcome. Yes. Terry Mitchell, our CFO, will be with us presenting tonight. Mark McGreder, our budget director, is ill and he's really sorry he couldn't be here. He wanted to be here. We said, "No, you can't come." So, I'm sure he's probably watching from uh from home, but Terry's going to give a few slides for you that are not new, so we don't have them uh to hand out tonight, but she's going to present just a little bit information and we'll entertain any questions you might have.

Thank you. Uh good evening everyone. And um as Miss Hill said, we had a just a couple of slides here for you. Um, and as a reminder for the board and for any who may not have heard the various budget presentations, can you move the mic just a little bit closer and down to you? Sorry about that. Sorry. Better. Much better. Yes. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt you.

That is okay. Thank you. Um again, uh reminding you all and for anyone who hasn't heard the various budget presentations over the last several weeks, uh we're providing a couple of summary slides here on the FY27 proposed tax rates and budget. And the slide you see here before you uh lists the various categories of taxable property and the corresponding rates that were used in preparing the proposed budget. Uh you'll see that the real estate tax rate of 81 cents represents a 5-cent rate increase and this rate also applies to mobile homes and there are no other proposed changes to the current tax rates. However, you will see the additional purple personal property tax category for fire and rescue volunteers that the board approved in January. And the purpose of this category is to provide an additional incentive for our volunteers. And the rates that you see here will provide an incentive of up to $752 for one vehicle per active volunteer. So those are the proposed rates. Um the next slide here shows you the proposed budget by fund and this has been included in all of the county's presentations on the proposed budget and it shows the allocation of the total budget of 285.7 million which is a 14.99 million increase over the FY26 budget. And to recap the next steps for approving the tax rates and budget, um later you will consider resolutions on the advertised rates and the budget. And uh as a reminder, the advertised rates can't be increased, but they can be lowered before you approve the FY27 budget. And then on Thursday, April 9th,

um there will be a public hearing to get citizen input on the budget. And then finally, um, on your agenda will be the opportunity to establish the FY27 rates and adopt the budget at a special meeting scheduled for, uh, April 20th. And so that is what we wanted to share this evening, but um, I'd be happy to take any questions.

All right. And before we have questions, I just wanted to add one, um, item about the fire and rescue volunteer incentive. We had talked about that. The board has given feedback about that and there was some discussion as along the way about what the maximum incentive would be. So we proposed um an incentive of $750 that could be lowered if the board chose to do that. It could be um el the tax could be eliminated entirely if that's what the board chose to do as well. And so is it correct that the way that it's presented in the previous slide, it actually will equal $752 just because of math?

That's right. Just because it's math. Yes. Okay. All right. What kind of questions do we have about the budget or discussion items that we want to talk about tonight? Don't all volunteer at once. I'll ask a quick one. Yeah, please go ahead. I know the depth service uh is 24 well 7588 million. How much of it is the uh school depth? How much of it is county depth? Do you have it? I think it's 19 probably for school, five for county.

I think that's correct. Let I can tell you quickly. I think it is 19 million for the schools. That's Thank you. And are you're talking annual debt service payments because we have more debt out than that. That's correct. 19.7 million for schools. Okay. Do we have any other questions or discussion items? Go right ahead, Supervisor King.

Well, we just heard from this group here. 25% adults is living in poverty in McGomery County compared to 9% of this Commonwealth of Virginia. We had a presentation from our finance people talking about how the economy is right now. People can't afford no more. I mean, they just can't. People are struggling. wages is not going up to keep up with groceries, gas, insurance. I want to find something here and I got it marked here that was presented to us from our own finance department where higher income families are spending while lower in families are not. There's a reason for that. They can't afford it. Government, commercial, and consumer debts are at peak level and could be problematic. This is showing us from our own staff, people are having to use credit cards just to make ends meet. And it's going to catch up with them. I think this year we need to sit back. The last two years the taxes was raised. I think we need to sit back and work for the citizens this year and do not raise taxes. They cannot afford it.

Thank you,

Supervisor Kids. So, I'm gonna put this this way because I'm not big on the raising taxes portion, but I also understand that that government has to provide a certain amount of services here. That being said, also from what I've seen and what I've looked at, and I tell people I went back to school just to learn how to read a budget because it's a complicated I mean, that's this the book right here. This is your budget. This is your county budget right here. It's big. It's heavy. It's complex. It has a lot of moving parts. Um, and I don't, again, I don't like the idea of having to be at a point where we have to do that, adjust CHA taxes or raise them or however you want to put it. But we also are responsible providing services and I know that we're one of the best ran counties in the Commonwealth as far as finances go. I think we all agree on that. I think it's recognized by the GFOA, which is the what is it the what is it? Government Finance Officers Association.

There you go. And we've got an award every single year. We're good on our bond rating. We're good on our rainy day fund. We are stra all the way across the board. And then if our staff looks at the levels to keep it at a the minimum increase they can to operate at the level we are because to address the group out there, I agree. I think we should. But the biggest problem I have is and a couple of you know this is with landlords. Not so much that we have to fix one problem before we try to fix the other one. And I was going to put up four extra code enforcement officers this year. That was a big push for me was to get two more added to uh Miss Hopkins department to be able to do those because a lot of your mobile home parks are just outside the town limits into the county. So they have different housing requirements and different standards and the towns have the departments and we don't. And because we're running tight, and I know we are, I didn't even bring it up because I know we're not in a position to be able to afford that even though we desperately need it. I don't like having to do it, but I'm and I think I voted for a penny in the full time I've been here, and I voted against the first one we did. But I also recognize that it is our responsibility to provide those services and to be able to fund them in a proper manner. You look around, there's counties around us that were discussing having to cut funding for fire and EMS. There are counties around us that are raising their taxes 14 cents, 15 cents. Cost of living, and we were playing around with the stuff on the back of a napkin for schools is uh me and Supervisor Graasi were talking about it just to stay ahead of cost of living and inflation was about four 4.1, which is where we're at. And that's all we're doing. We're not actually increasing anything. We're actually just maintaining. And as bad as that sounds

for a recommendation for a tax increase is so we can maintain services at the level we are. Because if we don't, then we need to make some tough decisions and look people in the eye and tell them why they're not going to get the services that the town county is required to provide. It's easy to sit here and say we need to raise taxes for this. Well, that's real people's money. It's also easy to sit here and say, "Well, we need to cut back on stuff." Unless you have to look those people in the eye and tell them, "We're not going to help you with this because we've had to cut services." I'll say this again and again. I don't like it because I don't like having to play around with people's budgets and their lives, but we are required to make sure that we maintain a standard of living for a lot of people. And we are required to make sure that they are taken care of. And it is it would be grossly irresponsible for us to have to decide to cut services at this point in time because I know the budget and I've looked through it line by line and god bless I had an AI go through the thing too and compared to the last five years to see where we could where could we move something where could we adjust what were the biggest increases and it's not there it's not there I've gone through that book line by line and tried to look at it because it it is such a passionate item that anytime you deal with people's budgets and their checkbooks, you're dipping into their lives and what they have the ability to do. So, that's where I'm at. Got a little long-winded on that one, but I'm a little passionate about it because at the end of the day, it's our job to take care of people. Period. I don't like it, but we're here. So, that's all I'm going to say. Any other comments? Okay.

Okay. I was just going to say um this is every year this is challenging and um I have confidence in our staff and I agree with supervisor kits. When you go through this every page, I've gone through the schoolboard budget every page and you have to come to the point where you're making a decision for what's best for the for the citizens and for the services. And that's that's the issue this year. We're only expecting a little over a million dollars in new revenue. And we're having to balance the needs that Miss Hill has presented in this budget and the school board has presented to the best of our ability. Did everyone get in the recommendation what they thought they needed? Not what they wanted, but did did they even get what they really felt they needed? Probably not. but it it meets the basic needs of what we're responsible as Supervisor Kit said in providing. So, um I too, and you've heard me say this over and over about Virginia's taxes being regressive, but it's our only way to raise revenue to fund the services that we provide for citizens. Do we like to raise taxes? No. Do we get to points in time where we have to? Yes. So, um I just want the staff to know that I feel their recommendation was well well thought out and I think that you know I personally can go ahead and um support when we come out of work session later on in the agenda to advertise

the tax rate and the budget as they were presented. So that's the way I feel. Great. Anybody else want to say anything? Sure. Go right ahead.

All right. I think I will definitely detail um Supervisor Kids way. We are going to provide the minimum. Um yeah, nobody wants the tax increase. That's for sure. But if we don't increase, obviously we don't have revenue to support anything. And that will include, you know, our salary increases for our personnel on both sides. And that has a result of not be able to affording the inflation moving forward put a uh bigger burden to the households. Um and if you have seen um you know previous budget presentation both side needs almost equal identical 8 million and that was almost total $16 million that require 12 cents uh tax increase to make all the ends meet and obviously that is very unreasonable whichever uh way you want to look at it. Um, I'm definitely in support of the five cents that Miss Hill uh and the uh team suggested and I also suggest I think both boards should sit moving forward and have a five to 10year plan to lay out the needs, the assessments and potential tax breaks and have a plan so we don't have to look at a required uh budget that rec you know we need a 12 cents increase maybe if we break it instead of keeping the tax rate same for so long or doing assessment for so infrequent I think I I believe we will be in a better place and we won't shock any of our citizens um yeah I think my worry will be if we don't do

anything it will be really devastating like uh also uh supervisor kiten Supervisor Biggs mentioned then we won't be able to uh provide the services and nobody will have a salary increase and you know uh economy as is inflation as is I don't think that will be costly for the families as well. Okay, great.

Yeah. Uh thank you. Um yeah, I I can echo a lot of the things uh that my colleagues have said so far, but they've done a pretty good job of saying those. So, you know, I'll I'll just say a couple of quick things. So, that that 5 cent increase, right, equates to about $6.35 million year-over-year. If you back out the $4.1 million, that's going to the schools. If you take out about a penny for uh employee salary increases, is that about about right? Um, that leaves us really only increasing the cost of running this county by about $980,000 year-over-year. And, you know, that penny, $1.2 million and going to salaries to all of our our staff. Um, you know, I think about when it's cold out, when it's dark, when it's a holiday, when a water mane busts, when sewers back up, you know, when things go wrong, who shows up? Our county employees, right? I think if I think they deserve uh at least that that increase, you know, that penny going to it. And then again, you know, if if on a hundred or $285 million budget, if we're only really putting another $980,000 year-over-year into what's going on, I I think we're doing a pretty good job of of controlling costs and and being diligent and frugal in managing the county's resources. So, I'll support advertising the the five- cent increase. Um, like my colleague said, hate hate seeing that, you know, costs come at the expense of uh our our taxpayers. Um, but there's a reason why this county is is awesome and why we have the services

that we do and I don't think any of our services are necessarily over the top, but you know, we do a good job of it and the folks that provide them are excellent. Um, so I'll support that. Thanks, Vice Chair Fijicowski.

Yeah, I want to start out first with an apology. Um, at the end of the last regular meeting on March the 9th, I was trying to quote something that I thought I had remembered, but I was reminded at the end of the meeting by Supervisor Gravky that um what I quoted as a monthly rate was actually a yearly rate. Um, so I do apologize for that. Um, but I I look back and I and I think this will be the third year of a tax increase and even though there they may be small increments, they add up. So, in the age of affordability, um, they're going to they're going to hurt and it's cumulative and unless your salary is keeping up with our tax increases, then you're falling behind. And I think about the fact that we are going to we're going through a reassessment and I think most people understand that the values will probably go up another 10 12%. And if we raise taxes again next year as it's been happening the last uh two um that's going to hurt even more because the that one penny will be worth more. So, um, I'm not in favor of the 5-cent increase.

And I guess I'll just kind of summarize. We've we've heard a lot of reasons on both sides to be in favor or not in favor. Um, I'll I'll take away um something from our recent joint meeting with the school board. Um, we have work in front of us that needs to be done. Um this is always a time with quite a bit of friction between the two elected bodies every year. Um and I think through some planning um looking at future capital needs um within the school system and future staffing needs um within the school system. I think we are going to be able to get a better handle on kind of a a course to chart moving forward. Um, and I'll push back just a little bit, um, Vice Chair Fijicowski, on the I know on the subject of reassessment, um, because reassessment and revaluation of properties is only one piece of the equation and the other being the tax rate. So just because a reassessment is coming and because if I had a crystal ball I feel like it would say that we're going to see that assessment re or the assessment values of real estate do go up again. Um it doesn't necessarily also equate to a tax increase. Um it's up to this board to then go back and look at what a revenue neutral rate is and um determine what the tax rate will be. So, I don't sorry to steal that from you, but I don't agree. Um, but I I I just think we have a lot of work going forward. Um, I I wish that we had started this budget season with a

better new revenue number so we had a better starting place. A 5-cent tax increase is um a huge burden. Um, and it's a huge burden on not just, you know, people that own their own homes, but that does trickle down into all types of housing in our community. If the tax rate increases on an apartment community, obviously the rents are going to increase on that apartment community. And the same holds true for a mobile home community. Whether or not the mobile homes are owned by the resident of that home or owned by the owner of the mobile home community, those types of increases have a trickle down effect effect regardless of income. And I am particularly sensitive um to the effect that that has on folks that are already living in dire circumstances or living paycheck to paycheck where the extra money truly means the difference between food, gasoline, and medicine. Um that is very real and very present. And so I will be um tonight voting in favor of advertising the 5 cent tax increase. I know we've gotten um some feedback about needing more for the schools and unfortunately um I just can't personally envision um I I have a hard enough time thinking about a 5-cent tax increase and going any further than that I think um is too far. So um does anybody else have anything that they wanted to add in work session this evening?

Yes. You know, it's been talked about we cut services and all this. I would like to ask the county administrator, if you don't have it now, if you could bring it to our next meeting, how much of that 5 cents is going to go towards new employees?

I can get that for you. I can't um out of the county side of the funding. I could tell you that for the school portion, it will be difficult to tell you that because we don't, as you know, they set their own priorities with the funding that we're going to pass along to them. But I can we'll put some things together for you that would show you what they've asked for and how many um positions and salary increases and what that would cost. Yes. New employees. New employees. Thank you. Okay. Does anybody else have anything? Supervisor Bixs,

I just want to emphasize something that you said, Chair Deas, and that is when we had our joint meeting, the idea of having um the schoolboard staff and our staff work in more of a planning um kind of way with the budget and also with us working with the school board so that we can understand if if there is a a salary issue instead of just having it come to us at one time. Like, let's make a plan for it because you can't just do everything in one year. So, why can't we think about that and how we might go about funding? Well, that goes to the operating budget. We're we're pretty good about it on the capital side, but we haven't been really really I don't think thoughtful on the operating side as much. And that's something that we could do. It might make a difference. I don't know. But at least people would be maybe invested in the process of looking. So I just wanted to add that to what you said.

Thank you. Supervisor Karan. Put your mic on, please. Sorry.

Sorry. I'm going to learn one of these days. Um I just want to give some numbers out there for the citizens to also advocate. um not just to the board of supervisor or your supervisors but on the state and federal level as well because state pays only 600 personnel for schools out of 100 I mean 1,800 so it is you know half of it paid by the county so you just imagine if state covers up all the personnel needed for schools how much money extra county will have to use for other things or schools will have to use for other things. The other thing is the federal programs the um the IDA the um individual differentiated education plan for our uh special needs students um when the IDA came in the 70s supposed to cover 40%. Only covers 13% maximum. So if you imagine if the federal government covers them all, how much money we will have to spend for other things. So you know, I think we have to be aware of uh advocating um whether you the county budget or the school budget on the other levels than just the local levels. And the other thing is that school has of course so many more you know uh personnel. Latin County has around 500 and the school has um 18. So the 88% of the school's budget goes to the salaries versus 63% of the county budget goes to county personnel. So whatever they add there with the needs, you know, automatically the number goes big because you're thinking salaries and

benefits. So that's a huge chunk of the school budget. So I want everybody to be aware also. Thank you. Okay. Is there any more discussion on this topic? Okay. Is there a motion to come out of work session? So moved. Second. Okay. We've got a motion and a second to come out of work session. Any discussion on coming out of work session? Madam clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Miss Karan, I. Mr. Kits. I. Mr. King. I. Mr. Fikowski. I Miss Biggs. I Mr. Gravsky. Hi, Chair Demottz. I seven eyes.

Okay. And we have quite a monster new business agenda this evening. So, I'm going to do a 10-minute break. Uh it is 8:40 now and we will reconvene at 8:50.

Okay, we're going to start with our new business agenda. Um, the first item of our new business agenda this evening is to establish the advertised real estate tax and other property tax rates. Um, and this kind of there's Jen is going to put it back on the screen the presentation from earlier that has the various tax rates. So we have the fiscical year 26 rates and then the proposed fiscal year 27 rates. Um, so I guess first is there a motion at the proposed fiscal year 27 rates as shown on the screen

to be advertised? To be advertised. Well, I'll make the motion. Okay, I'll second.

Okay. And so then that would advertise uh the real estate tax rate at 81 cent per 100, personal property tax at 255 per 100, machinery and tools at 182 per 100, mobile homes tax rate at 81 cents per 100, aircraft tax at 123 per 100. And then that would introduce the new fire and rescue volunteer personal property tax category which is $0 per 100 up to 29,500 of assessed value and uh over the 29,500 um mark it would be at the regular personal property tax rate. Is there any discussion? Just one thing I just asked all board members to think if this tax rate goes up, is that really affordable living in Montgomery County? People are struggling.

Any other discussion before the vote? One thing and and I apologize. I probably should have asked this during work session. Um, but specific to the mobile homes tax, you know, how much of of our budget does the mobile homes and maybe you can't answer that right off the top of your head. I can hang on just a second.

So, I'll opine while she looks the actual numbers up. Um, in a lot of localities, mobile homes are taxed at a personal property tax rate. um which would be really really high um in our community. And then also um mobile homes are often um rental dwellings as opposed to being owned by the person that's living in them in them. Um there are obviously lots of cases where the person that own that lives in the mobile home owns their mobile home. Um, but those are also often rented directly from the mobile home community park owner. Um, in instances where people have their own land and and their own kind of different arrangements where you're either renting the whole thing or you're renting the land and you own the mobile home.

It's it tends to be a depreciating depreciating asset opposed to a home. Um, but I was just just curious about that of the to It's about uh I think it's $280,000, but that seems too low, but it's 0.1% of the total budget. So, it's a very small percentage. Very small percentage. Okay. And can you get us that? I will get it. Yeah, I might be able to get it in another minute. And if Mark was here, we're just advertising right now. So, I know we're not we're not adopting anything. So, it Hold on one more minute. Well, does anybody Yeah, they're opines.

I have I've opined enough. Does anybody else have any comments or questions? Okay. Well, well, I'll just look at Angie while she looks this up. No pressure to just like how much? 183,000. So, that $200 was close. Yes. 183,000 at the at the advertised rate. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. Does that also show how much for aircraft? Yes. I just wondered. I mean, we were we were there at a gap and I was like, how many aircraft do we have? Steve said he had to sell his Learjet now. It's $139,000 for aircraft. Wow. 288. I didn't have my glasses on.88. 288.

Yeah. So, there's more in property tax for aircraft than there is for mobile home. No. 138 for aircraft, 188 for personal. I thought you said two. Sorry, my bad. Oh, wait a minute. I really didn't mean to put you on the spot. I apologize. Mark has just texted. It's 180. 180. Hello, Mark McGreder. Thanks, Mark. It's Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. Are we ready for the vote? Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Kits, I. Mr. King, no.

Mr. Fijicowski, no. Miss Biggs, I. Mr. Gravski, I. Miss Karan, I. Chair Demottz, I. Five eyes to no.

Okay. The next item on our agenda is to uh is a resolution establishing the advertised fiscal year 2627 budget. And I'll read this resolution and then see if there's a motion. Be it resolved that the board of supervisors of the county of Montgomery, Virginia, hereby authorizes the county administrator to advertise a fiscal year 2026 2027 budget in the amount of 285,739,3770. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Okay. Is there any discussion on the advertised budget? Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please.

Mr. King. No Mr. Fijicowski. No, Miss Biggs. I Mr. Gravski. I Miss Karan. I Mr. Kits. Hi. Chair Deamas. I. Five eyes to no. Motion carries.

Thank you. Okay. Um, so earlier this evening, we had a public hearing um about some precinct polling changes. These are location changes. Um, so we heard all three location changes in one public hearing, but we need to vote on them separately. So the first one is an ordinance uh about the temporary change for the A3 precinct polling place from Squire Student Center to Johnston Student Center for the August 4th, 2026 primary only. Is there a motion? Motion. Second. Any discussion? Madame Clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Mr. Triacicowski I Miss Bigs I Mr. Grassy

I Mr. King I Mr. Kits I Miss Karan Hi Chair Deontz I seven I's okay next same theme uh this is a temporary change to the E3 precinct polling place from Squire Student Center to Johnston So student center for the August 4th 2026 primary only. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Okay. Any discussion? Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Kits, I. Mr. King. I. Mr. Fijicowski. I. Miss. I. Miss. Karan. I. Mr. Gravski. I. Cheramods. I. Seven eyes.

All right. Rounding out the set. We have uh the temporary change of the F3 polling precinct polling place from Squire Student Center to Johnson Student Center for the August 4th, 2026 primary only. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Madame Clerk, if you'll call the RO, please. Mr. King, I. Mr. Fijicowski, I. Miss Kuran, I. Mr. Grassy, I. Mr. Kits, I. Miss Figgs, I. Cheramonts, I. Seven eyes.

Okay. And um we had another public hearing this evening on a special use permit for Mr. Trible uh for his property located at 14:30 Harding Road. Uh this is to be a short-term tourist rental. Is there a motion? Motion. Nope. Second. Okay. I was waiting for you. Is there any discussion? Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Fijicowski. I. Miss Biggs I Mr. Grassy I Mr. King I Mr. Kits I Miss Karan I chair Deamontz I seven I's

okay and next um our final subject of the public hearings this evening we have an ordinance to adopt the Montgomery Matters comprehensive plan for Montgomery County and I so wish I could make a motion but I cannot. So is there a motion? So moved. Second.

All right. Is there any discussion? I just have one thing to say. This has got to be the most inclusive and thorough comprehensive plan I have ever seen for this county. And um when I first got on the board of supervisors in 1996, they had not changed the zoning since 1969. So that's why it happened in 1999. But they did the zoning before the comp plan because the zoning was a little bit out of control. And we're doing it the right way. Today we're doing the comp plan, then the zoning. You guys, I just can't even I can't even comment on the excitement that I feel and the passion that you guys displayed in this whole process. This is I mean, you got to turn this in for some kind of award. I mean, it is really, really good. So, thank you.

All of the awards, like every award that exists, please. Um, and I think Supervisor Biggs is speaking on behalf of the whole board in just a huge amount of congratulations and gratitude. So, any other comments? Have we laid it on thick enough? We love you guys. Thank you. Really, really, this is awesome. All right, madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Miss Biggs, I. Mr. Graky, I. Miss Karan, hi. Mr. Kits, hi. Mr. King, hi. Mr. Ficowski, hi. Chair deonts I seven eyes. Yay. Congratulations. We're so happy. Just close one.

Okay. You can sleep now. Made me sweat. Okay. Next. Um Oh, this will be a fun one. We've got a little bit of information coming from Marty. This is uh related to participation in the opioid settlement. Uh Marty, you're up.

Well, thank you, Madam Chair. This is just a um settlement proposal um that's involving six uh what they refer to as remnant defendants, but they're what what they are small opioid related claims at the national level that the board um has an opportunity to uh participate in. It's about 97.6 $6 million. Um and and we will be provided um an amount that's based on our um our um ratio that that they've used nationally. So it's recommended by our outside council that we participate and I I recommend it as well. So Okay. Thank you.

All right. We've got a motion. Do we have a second? Second. All of you. Good luck, Vicki. Um, is there any discussion on this item? I I'd just like to thank Marty for all your hard work on this and I know it took you a lot of time and I appreciate it. I appreciate that. Thank you. Okay, madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Kiy, I. Miss Karan, I. Mr. Kits, I. Mr. King, I. Mr. Fikowski, I. Miss Figgs, I. Chair Deamontz, I.

Seven eyes. Next item is a resolution to oppose mandatory collective bargaining legislation. This is House Bill 1263 and Senate Bill 378. Um I'm sure you all recall that the board did choose to send a letter to our legislators um on this topic and then the Virginia Association of Counties um brought this up as a resolution item. Um, Vice Chair Fijicowski was kind of the push behind it. So, I don't know if you had anything to add before we get a motion.

Um, only that this legislation will raise costs for everybody. If and and I'm speaking for Montgomery County, if if we're going through tough times now, if this was to hit the street, it would be a little tougher because we'd have to find that money, too. Okay. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Okay. Is there any discussion? Yeah. Supervisor kits.

So, and I sent this all to you, but I can't I can't support it and for specific reasons. So, so I want to be clear as we state everything that I own a union business and I'm a member of the United Mine Workers of America. So, and my print business is union based also. So, but I want to preface this and be clear that Montgomery County has historically taken very good care of its employees and our workforce is very professional. It's dedicated and we treat them with a with a lot of respect and that's credit to our county leadership. So, when I say I support this, it is not a direct reflection upon the county or the leadership. Um, but at the same time, supporting collective bargaining does not mean you're criticizing how employees are currently treated. It simply means that we're recognizing that employees should have the right to formally organize and negotiate if they choose to. Uh providing that option does not automatically create conflict. In many cases, it can strengthen in communication and accountability. So, I'm putting that out there. I can't support it. That's why and I'll leave it there.

Okay. Any other discussion? Um I'm going to vote in favor, but I want folks to know I'm not against collective bargaining as we have it now. My problem is that these two bills took away local control and I don't support the state taking away local control. Couldn't have said it better. So, I'll just say I agree with you. Any other discussion? And you know, I think citizens need to know too, and correct me if I'm wrong, but if this goes through, the county will not have a representative on that board, right?

We will have no say. Yeah, I'd like to say that I do not agree with the point of the bill going through and the taking away of control. I just my whole thing is the ability to have that and to support that portion but not it being forced down our throat. So yeah. Okay. Madame clerk, if you'll call the RO, please. Miss Karan, I. Mr. Kits, no. Mr. King, I. Mr. Ficowski, I. Miss Bicks I. Mr. Gravski I. Chair Deamas I.

Six eyes's one no. Okay. And next this is sad um but also a celebration. We have a resolution of commendation for our sheriff uh Hank Parton whose retirement um is coming at the end of March. So, this is a uh resolution commending him for his years of service, which we of course will have um a bit more fanfare when we actually present the resolution to him, but we've got to make sure that we want to do it first. So, is there a motion to u move forward with this resolution? So, moved. Second.

Okay. Is there any discussion? We can't do anything secretly. We can't even pro plan a surprise. Any other discussion? Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Kitz. Hi, Mr. King. Hi, Mr. Fijicowski. Hi, Miss Biggs. Hi, Mr. Gravski. Hi, Miss Karan. Hi, Mr. Deamontz. I Seven eyes. Okay, here we go. These are going to come quickly now. Next, we have uh resolution for National Child Abuse Prevention Month, April 2026. Is there a motion? Move. Second. Any discussion? Madame Clerk, if you'll call the RO, please. Mr. King, I. Mr. Picowsky. Hi, Mr. Bicks. Hi, Mr. Gravy. Hi, Miss Karan. Hi, Mr. Kits. Hi, Mr. Deamottz.

I Seven eyes. Next is uh I lost my place. I'm back. Next is National County Government Month, April 2026. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Madame Clerk, if you'll call the RO, please. Mr. Fijowski. I. Miss BS. I. Mr. Grassy. Hi. Miss Kon. Hi. Mr. Kits. Hi. Mr. King. I chair dematz. I seven eyes. Next is distracted driving awareness month for April 2026. Is there a motion? Motion. Second. Any discussion? Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Miss BS. I. Mr. Grassy. I. Miss Karan. Hi. Mr. Kits. Hi. Mr. King. Hi. Mr. Fijicowski.

I. Chair Deamas. I. Seven eyes. Okay. Next. National Library Week from April 19th through 25th, 2026. Is there a motion? So move. All right. Second. Any discussion? That was our library board liaison weighing in with the motion. Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Graky. I. Miss Karan. Hi. Mr. Kits. Hi. Mr. King. Hi. Mr. Ficowski. Hi. Miss Figgs. Hi. Chairs. Hi. Seven eyes. Okay. Next we have National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, April 12th through 18th, 2026. Is there a motion?

Second. Is there any discussion? Madame Clerk, if you'll call the RO, please. Miss Karan, I. Mr. Kits, I. Mr. King. Hi. Mr. Ficowsky. I. Miss Biggs. I. Mr. Grassy. Hi. Cheramats. I. Seven eyes. Okay. Next is National Therapy Animal Day, April 30th, 2026. Is there a motion? Motion. Second. Is there any discussion? Just one thing. Anybody has animal, they're all therapy animals. Agree. I agree. I agree. Totally. Okay. Madame Clerk, if you'll call the RO, please. Mr. Kits. Hi. Mr. King. Hi. Mr. Fikowski. Hi. Miss Bicks. Hi. Mr. Gravy. Hi. Miss Kuran. Hi.

Chair Deamatz. I seven eyes. Okay. And I think this is our last one, unless I've missed one. We have National Volunteer Week, April 19th through 25th, 2026. Is there a motion? Second. Any discussion? Madame Clerk, if you'll call the RO, please. Mr. King. I. Mr. Ficowsky. I. Miss Biggs. I. Mr. Gravy. Hi. Miss Karan. I. Mr. Kits. Hi. Chair Deamontz. Hi. Seven eyes. All right. We made it to the end of our new business agenda. And now the moment we've all been waiting for, our county attorney's report.

I just um Ralph wanted me to thank you for having National Animal Therapy Month this month. So that that's all I have. Okay. You're welcome, Ralph. Uh county administrators report. Should I talk about my cats or not? You you can if you would like.

All right. Morgan and Abby. They say that too. Emily. Morgan and Emily. Aby's deceased. Morgan and Emily the cat. Poor Emily. I wasn't really prepared for that. It's not on my list. I have a few dates to remind the board about and uh the public that are watching at home. The first one we've talked about several times. April 9th, we'll have a public hearing on the tax rate and the budget um in this room. And then we have the three village meetings that were brought up earlier. The April 2nd is in Eastmont, April 23rd is in Reiner and May 7th in Price's Fork. Several of you attended some data centerformational meetings with uh Chris and myself last week. They were very informative and we um plan to bring some information to you in the future for you to give us more direction on. We're that's not to say that we have data project data center projects in the works. It's just to inform you about what they all entail. And we learned a lot of interesting things that I think will be helpful helpful for people to understand. I just received today the first draft of the audit of the volunteer fire and rescue um financial statements through June 30th of 2025. So, we'll be passing those along to the board as soon as they're finalized. There are two letters letters of support that um I'm planning to send this week for on behalf of the board unless I get a no from you tonight. The first one is for funding for the New River Valley Passenger Rail Station Authority. It's federal community project funding. uh that funding has been applied for and we were notified that if we if the entities that are members of the authority send letters of recommendation and support that might help the funding go through which would offset the cost

for the county. I see lots of thumbs up and the other is for McGomery Museum uh funding for a virtual trail between the current location and the historic Pepper House and Gardens. Um it's a grant through T-Mobile. So, they've also asked for a letter of support for that. Thank you. And my final item is uh some of you, well, we all received emails from the weekend about Norphick Southern um and a train that was blocking access to some residents in Eastern Montgomery part of the county. Chris was able to get in contact with a representative from Norfick Southern today and the gentleman he spoke with explained what happened which we al already had um been made aware of the train actually broke down and they were making repairs. They thought the repairs were going to go quicker than they did. But we do have contacts. So, I just wanted to let people know that we were able to follow up with that today and we can um make sure that when things like that happen, we can reach out to those contacts and and get that situation rectified for for folks so they can have access. Great. Thank you. Um now we'll move on to board members reports and we'll start with Supervisor Gravki. No, actually I'm sitting here and u I I don't have a report.

Okay, that's perfectly acceptable. Well, thank you, Supervisor Kits. Thanks. I like calling on people when they're not paying attention.

I see that. That's why I look down. So, uh, just a little heads up and I got this was a economic development meeting the other day, but the Christensenburg mayor, Mayor Barber was talking about how the rail passenger rail is running ahead of schedule and the platforms going to be done before the station and they're going to be able to run service from that point. So, we're looking 2027 to be able to start running service and I think that's that's amazing. Um, the other thing is and I want to thank staff and VOTE on this one. I had uh a family call me about Walton Road and some potholes and stuff and they called me on the on Friday. I got in touch with staff on Monday. Tuesday this got pushed forward and by Friday the potholes on that sectional road were were already worked on and fixed because they were pretty substantial like a half a tire deep kind of substantial. Um but I want to say thank you for that and and getting that knocked out and I just want to say I appreciate it. So thank you. Great. Supervis Oh, you looked up. Supervisor Karan showing all my attention so you can't catch me. Um, those two data center I think meetings were fascinating. I think I learned so much and I'm looking forward to hearing more when we discuss. Okay, great. Supervisor King,

I don't have no report, but I would like to invite everybody to the uh oyster and chicken fundraiser at Riner Fire Department. It'd be Saturday from 2 to 6. It's a drive-thru. Bring your money, Marie. I know. I think I I've given you some money for that, haven't I? Thank you, Supervisor Biggs.

Um, well, as you know, the fuel prices have gone up. So, at the airport meeting, the Virginia Tech Montgomery Executive Airport meeting last Tuesday, that came up as a subject. Um, you know, of course, our fuel prices will raise will be raised at the airport. We're not sure how that will affect airport traffic yet. um you know like you sort of think well if you have an airplane probably you could afford the fuel but who knows so we'll sort of watch that and I also wanted to comment on the two um data center um educational events I mean I it was overwhelming I I learned so much and uh I think the second one um during the day even had more detailed information the first one did so yeah I'm glad that that was offered to all of us. Yeah.

Vice Chair Physicowski.

Yeah, I'll speak on the the train issue down in Shawville. Um what what was the most unfortunate thing about it? It it was that it lasted for 15 hours and there were people trapped in their neighborhoods. And I was very glad to hear that Chris is in contact with them. And I'm hoping that that out of that maybe some protocol will kick in and and maybe the next time or if it ever happens, never know, um that it will be responded to in a quicker fashion. Everybody that lives on the other side of the railroad tracks, as they say, um, expects inconveniences every once in a while, but that one really took the cake. So, uh, that's going to be a tough one for them to get over. So, if anything could come out of it in the in the way of a um of protocol that would make things happen a little bit quicker or at least open the road, um, that would really go far. And I'm going to go ahead and triple down on the onward presentation on data centers. Tremendous amount of information was provided along with two uh members of counties that have data centers and they shared their experiences. Um unfortunately a lot of people that hate data centers are going to lose a lot of reasons to hate them because uh a lot of them were debunked. So, uh, uh, that'll be interesting going forward. Um, and, uh, last but not least, I won't be here with you April the 9th for the, um, for that meeting cuz I have a really important appointment I have to keep. So, I'm sorry. That's all I got.

We will miss you, but we are also glad that you will not be here with us. just given what your state will be. We we care about you, Steve. Um, and I that was said with love. Um, and I also do not have a report this evening, so I am not seeing anybody else waving at me frantically. This meeting is adjourned. Too late. I did it.