Town Council - Regular Meeting

Uh LA Los Angeles. Good evening, everyone. I would like to call the meeting live today for May the 4th, 2026. Kim, if you'll please call roll. Miss Quetch. Here. Miss Pillion. Here. Vice Mayor Austin. Present.

And Mayor Anderson. Here. Let the record reflect Mr. Webb is absent. Now, um I'm going to ask Amanda Pillion to please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. If everyone will please remain standing, I have Miss Farmer here today and she's going to do our prayer for us. Miss Farmer, if you'll come forward, please. Thank you for being here tonight, Miss Farmer. Mayor Anderson and council members, I want to thank you for the privilege of being here and thank you for honoring uh the prayer time by having everybody stand. That's That's good. Thank you. Would you pray with me? Father, indeed it is a privilege to to be present in this in this um very important um body of of uh persons who have dedicated their time and their talents and their energy to serving this community. And Lord, I I thank you that I'm privileged to be a a resident of this community and it and it's a a privilege I don't take lightly to pray for them. Father, I pray that you would give each one of these individuals um wisdom and and knowledge and discernment and and wit and uh and just courage beyond their human ability to even ask you for it. As they make decisions that affect the town. As they make decisions that affect me and my neighbors, I pray that it would be done wisely and and only after seeking your will. So, Lord um I know they feel the weight of responsibility of serving this community. So, I thank you for that and I ask you just to to honor

honor their um time here by by giving them direction in how to do your will and how to do their work properly. I thank you, Father. I thank you for their responsibility and for mine in praying for them. In the mighty, powerful name of the one we serve, Christ our Lord. Amen. Thank you. Now, I'm going to need approval of the agenda for tonight. If I could get a motion to approve that agenda. I'll make that motion. Do I have a second? Second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call roll. Miss Quetch. Aye. Miss Pillion. Aye. Vice Mayor Austin. Aye. And Mayor Anderson. Aye. Now, we have the approval of the of minutes for the April 7th, 2026 meeting. I'm going to do these separate if that's okay. Um first, if I could get a motion to uh of approval for the minutes of the April 7th, 2026 meeting. So moved. Second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call roll. Miss Quetch. Aye. Miss Pillion. Aye. Vice Mayor Austin. Aye. And Mayor Anderson. Aye. Now, we're having approval of the minutes for April 23rd, 2026. If someone will make a motion on that. I'll make that motion. Second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call roll. Miss Quetch. Aye. Miss Pillion. Aye. Vice Mayor Austin. Aye. And Mayor Anderson. Aye. We have no one signed up for public comment today. We have We'll open public comment and we'll close public comment. We have one proclamation today and that's a proclamation recognizing 57th annual Professional Clerks Week,

May the 3rd through the 9th, 2026. And we'll have Amanda Pillion read that proclamation, please. Whereas, the office of the professional municipal clerk is a time-honored and essential component of local government serving communities such as the town of Abingdon and municipalities around the world. And whereas, the office of the professional municipal clerk is among the oldest of public service professions providing continuity and trusted leadership in local government and whereas, professional municipal clerks serve as the vital link between the citizens of Abingdon, the town council, and agencies of government at all levels. And whereas, professional municipal clerks are committed to neutrality and impartiality, ensuring fair, accurate, and equal service to all. And whereas, the professional municipal clerk serves as a central source of information regarding the functions of local government and the Abingdon community. And whereas, professional municipal clerks continually strive to improve the administration of their offices through participation in educational programs, seminars, workshops, and professional organizations at the state, county, and international levels. And whereas, it is fitting and proper to recognize the accomplishments and dedicated service of professional municipal clerk who contributes daily to the effective operation of the town of Abingdon. Now, Dwayne Anderson, the mayor of the town of Abingdon, does hereby proclaim the week of May 3rd through May 9th, 2026, as Professional Municipal Clerks Week in Abingdon, and extends sincere appreciation to our professional municipal clerk, and to all Virginia professional municipal clerks for their vital services and exemplary

dedication to the citizens of our communities. Thank you. Thank you, Kim, for being Thank you, Council. Appreciate it. [applause] No, we're good. [laughter] Thank you, Kim. Everybody else gets a free coffee. Thank you, Kim. Appreciate Thank you, Kim. I'll see if I can get the clerk to print one for us. [laughter]

Well, she truly does an outstanding job. Thank you. Now, we're going to open public hearing. Um the first thing on public hearing today is the public hearing to to adopt the ordinance amending the fiscal year of 2025-26 annual budget, and I'm going to ask Mike Cochran and Miss Amanda Ingraham to come up and speak about that. Sure. Thank you. Sorry. You can use either one of those. Evening. So, we're It is uh a recommendation to amend um the current year's budget. Um first, for the sewer fund, we had a couple of expenditures that weren't originally budgeted for um that came up through the year, and I just think good practice we decided to kind of hold everything until closer to the end, and then do a request for amendment. Um for expenditures, it's the uh wastewater treatment. There was a transfer switch upgrade um by Acorn Electrical. That was kind of an emer- a little bit of an emergency situation. Um it was $139,120. Uh we had a rate study. Um Wilderness did perform that. It's still ongoing. It's our sewer rate study. That was $46,320. Um then we also are a participant in the regional wastewater study. That was 285, and then um there is a actually a reduction of the fiscal year '26 debt service of $86,617. We had originally budgeted for um a full year's payment, but um

based on when the project uh finished and when the payment started, we actually only had a semi- semi-annual payment. So, in total, that is expenditures of $383,813. If I can just add to that bit, sorry, the uh the 285, the the town has only paid about 34 and change. We had the We had a grant fund for 150 of that, and then the other folks that are party to the study paid their share. So, our our out-of-pocket is around 34,000. Yeah, and on the on the revenue side, that was [clears throat] the expenditure side. On the revenue side, um we've got the the reimbursement. Um we actually invoiced all the other participants, and they paid their share. So, we had a revenue coming in of 251,250. So, it made a change in fund balance of 132,563. We had budgeted uh adding to the reserves 423,902. This is going to reduce that to 291,339. However, that's just a a budget number, and uh I've done a forecast, but uh still a little too close to call, but I think we're going to actually exceed that. Uh we'll probably even exceed the budgeted the 423 even without the the adjustment as far as putting back into reserves, but don't know an exact number just yet. So, that is on the sewer fund side. Do you have any questions? Questions on that one? Um on the general fund side, we have some expenditures. Um We had a Wellspring grant for the trestle repair of a million and 68. We had a DEQ grant for Wheeler Street, and then the match, uh both at 107,575. And then a DCR grant for community flood preparedness at 225. And then we had lost revenue carryover of 724,359.24.

Um that is the amount of lost revenue that we ended the prior year with that we don't budget for as an expense or revenue in the current year until we see what we're actually going to spend of that. Um so, that that'll actually all of these actually hit both the expense and revenue the same. So, it's a zero change. Yeah, it's a wash. But, we still have to go in and amend the budget so that these these funds are in those particular lines to be able to pay that. Any questions on that? Okay. Is there a Um I didn't have anything to close, and then open the second one, which is the budget. I don't think we have anyone signed up for public hearing. So, first, I'll open up the public hearing for comments for anybody that would like to make comments on that. But, I don't have anyone signed up. We'll close the public hearing on that one, and we'll move on to the public hearing of the ordinance of the the council for the town of Abingdon to propose a budget, make appropriations for the current expenses, to fix the tax rate upon the real and personal property for the financial year beginning July the 1st, 2026, and ending June the 30th, 2027. And we have Mike and Amanda to go on with that one as well. Sure. Yeah, I just have a couple slides just to kind of introduce what we've got for the budget proposal, and I know some of y'all have seen some of this in January, but we have a much larger audience online than we have in person. Uh it's quick. Uh so, anyway, I was going to say, back up one slide, please. Thank you. Yes, so the wolves, if you haven't seen them, they're all over town, and uh there's 10 small ones and 10 of the uh

the full-size ones. And we're in the process right now of uh uh we're in the process right now of uh uh the uh app that I've been telling everybody about, that actually should be launching on Friday. Should be out this week. That'll actually give the people like a set up like a scavenger hunt type thing. Uh so, people can uh people will be able to go around and just get out of their car and walk around town to find them, and then uh tourism has a little uh prize set up for people that that locate all of them. And then the uh the muster grounds, uh the retirement home right there, you'll see the the uh the middle of the picture has the wooden stuff holding the porch up. That's in the process of being restored. Uh the historical preservation was there last week, and um on the inside looks a whole lot better than the outside, but the uh they've done a lot of work. They've re- re- pointed a lot of the grout, and uh it's on its way of being something to be proud of. It's just got a little bit of work left to do, but it looks a whole lot better today than it did a year ago. Uh next one, please. Uh just going over some of the the studies, cuz I mentioned, as you saw like some of the ones we're uh we're paying back on the studies, we have a fair amount of studies ongoing, and a lot of these things um the way to do a lot of this stuff is if you get get the study and see if you can find funding, and then that helps us steer uh different things that we get done. But, the uh the historical marketing, it's a cultural assessment, uh that's in process right now. I think they're working on their final report. They were on site a few months ago meeting with meeting with uh folks in the area and businesses and whatnot. And uh then the the county growth sewer availability, that's the one that we just did the sewer amendment on. What that study is is um the the service authority, uh which is one of our customers with the sewer with the sewer system, wastewater system. Uh they have um

it's a it's a bigger picture study of what's going on with the sewer, cuz what they wanted to know uh is well, more or less uh where the county's growth is expected, where they could put it, and then where the sewer capacity is. Cuz we have certain areas, if you look at the bigger map of our of our wastewater system, and then the wastewater systems that are available to us in the pretty close to town, uh what it you you see everything where it's at. Well, what this is going to look at is, okay, what are the lift stations? What are the pipes? Where What can actually take growth versus what's going to require [snorts] a whole lot of uh work in order to accept the growth. And so, this is an engineering firm that's not the one that we use and not the one [clears throat]

service authority uses. And and the Wellspring is they put up 150,000 towards this particular study. And so at the end of that one then we'll know exactly, you know, where you can better steer development particularly as the town and the area grows you want to know where it can go and then what areas it's suitable for because, you know, knowing you have sewer in an area really changes the changes your outlook on that what you can do in a certain area. Um the Coomes Center that that processed just we just issued the contract on that like a week ago and that is to do the senior programming assessment. See and what we can do there what the what the opportunities are for for serving the seniors a little differently yeah perhaps better. And that is literally underway that's a new grant and we love grants. I love new no match grants even better. The Arts Depot while that is not our study it's our facility. And so they had a they had gotten a planning grant study from Wellspring in order to figure out ways they could repurpose some of their interior and exterior. And so they have that now they're in the process of creating a capital campaign. So the expectation is that in in a couple years they'll be where they want to do some things to the inside and then the outside cuz it's historic there's very little that can be done but you want to be able to make sure that they get everything they need. It's a you know, a really community asset for us. And then the flood front study on Preston Street that's the 225 that we just approved. If you recall a couple years ago we did the the bigger picture of emergency for the flood preparedness. You had to have that in order to be able to get the money and so we got that 225 for for no match. Now Preston Street is an area it's got the Cozart warehouse the old Cozart warehouse and it's you know, it's a 1.6 acre roof that kind of drains into one spot. And all the water from behind

the train station all goes down there. So there's a lot of opportunities for bigger infrastructure there but until we have a study that can tell us what it is. And so now I know we've been some folks in the area that have asked us for help over there. Help just takes a while sometimes and so this is the result of two years two and a half years of trying to trying to find a way to make that happen. And so once you get the study done then they'll have an engineer you know, estimate what it would take to fix it. And then from there is when you get when you get funding from our different funding sources but that would give you what they call a shovel ready project and shovel ready projects always get funding quicker. Uh the the study we had ongoing was last year was on the meeting people trust trestles. We got all those done and we just approved a million dollars that was a grant with no match in order to get the immediate repairs done to that. We're still waiting on funding. We've been approved but we're cuz of the delays in some of the things the federal government's been up to we have roughly 4 million dollars in

[clears throat] repairs coming for the trestles as well and that's funded 75% from FEMA 17% or 18% from VDOT and then we pay the other 7%. Um but 7% of 4 million is a whole lot better than 100% so well we'll take our time but that is in process and then the study that's also being done is Farmers Market in Remsburg [cough]

which is trying to find a better way to utilize Remsburg this this also encompasses the town of the Farmers Market or from the Farmers Market Remsburg to the Arts Depot trying to find ways that we could better utilize some of that space. And then E O while this isn't a town study this is a E O is obviously not a town entity. They're they're working on a study right now that would impact tourism pretty significantly and so that's in process and then we're also working with VDOT on a couple different things to affect Street which would really help that whole area. And then the strategic plan for the EDA that's also underway as we speak. Next slide. But all that planning eventually in order to get any of the your serious funders you have to have plans not just an idea and so that's part of the way we take the approach on those things. And in this past year infrastructure and projects I couldn't be prouder of the of the playground that was a lot of fun. And I was up there today and it was chillier than I said it was going to be but the kids are still out there. It's just a really nice nice to see it used. Train station thanks to all that came out I understand someone has pictures of me in a in a bib or whatever they call that thing. That's a rare event cuz I don't when you when you when you microwave stuff you generally don't need a need a one of those but anyway they got pictures of me anyway. So that's it the so that is done and that's that just looks absolutely amazing and we'll be utilizing that real soon. Park Street sidewalks phase one is done recall that was a 2016 project so that's finally done and I understand I think it was Dwayne that said that they wanted to rename it Parklet or Park Avenue.

[laughter] Yeah yeah I think the street I think the street lights are up down there too. Yeah we got power I'm not sure if power's there yet but we're real close. I don't think it's there yet but it looks wonderful.

Real close to getting those in as we do the projects that just adds to the area cuz it'll match Main Street's aesthetic. Uh so phase two that goes out to bid very shortly if it's not already bid that that's happening as we speak. And then emergency management we have recall that we got the EM town designation and along that same line we had applied for grants for generators for key infrastructure facilities in town and we've been awarded 1.196 million dollars to go towards four of the generators we had asked for the other ones were still in the in in queue haven't been sold or we're still waiting on seeing what their funding availability is.

We haven't officially received the award documentation yet which is why it's not in the Oh. amendment. I got you. like a verbal but I don't think we've actually

an email on it. I've been meaning to forward it maybe. I'll make a note of that. Anyway but anyway we did get it which is nice. So and then the century sewer we just have a lot of projects going on throughout town thankfully the Valley Street is done. And we still have we have several other ones that are coming along. The Cook Street extension is that is fully funded on the six year plan and now we're a couple years into that. So I would look for that to be ramping up pretty soon in the next year or so. And the Thompson Street roundabout is actually underway. When this thing first started I couldn't understand how you spend eight and eight million dollars for a traffic circle and but when you see what they're doing you understand why it's a significant amount of work but because they're adding a whole bunch of real estate to that project. And then the East-West Main Street this was an 18 million dollar VDOT project that got added at the end of last fiscal year or last calendar year and basically on that one it was a projects that we had asked for through the VDOT funding programs but they just didn't get to they didn't get funded cuz of the way they were set up the way they they scored. Anyway long story short on that one is when they finish that project we're supposed to pay 750 but we're getting 18 million dollars worth of uh work that would actually make Main Street in Remsburg where it intersects with Cummings really much more viable and that and a prettier look cuz right now if you're in front of um CVS to Walgreens you get the sea of really wide wide roads great for parade set up allows you for aesthetic cuz it just is a sea of asphalt. So this would add some medians and some some things to help traffic calm but also make it look a whole lot nicer. And then Piggly Wiggly alley is done. Next one please. Um one other thing and these are the green are the ones that they recommended a couple years ago we had some issues or some concerns about pedestrians and so like when I tell you we're working on it sometimes we are sometimes it just takes

two years. Just it's a function of how their projects are funded. And this is through VDOT but this is the 123,000 103 dollars cost us not a penny other than staff time of doing the study. And you'll notice like there's ones that would be good but they just didn't score right. Now Bradley Street in particular that would score except they won't put a pedestrian crossing where it needs an island because that is five lanes there roughly five lanes and it needs an island so when they get their Street gets an island there then it'll get a pedestrian crossing. I have a lot of people question me about that on Bradley Street so. Yeah it actually is coming and then I see the one down by Fuller Street just as an aside Fuller Street and at Macon Street where the where it crosses the tracks you'll notice the grade at Macon we just put the concrete landing in there to extend the sidewalk. And both of those will be done really soon like in the next few months I would hope and that'll cross the tracks even though you can still walk in the road to cross the tracks this so it'll give the safe pedestrian access for crossing the tracks. Next one. Uh yeah this just goes back to the pedestrian safety area where we're adding the sidewalks along Park Street. Now the the one section sewer does the hard right turn down by the fire station we're looking and still waiting on some engineering information but we may bring that across the park so you have to would actually walk across the little bridge we put in there. And then it would bring you out to Trooper's alley saves a couple feet maybe but it would just be a nicer look than walking all the way to the corner. So but that project is about to bid soon. Uh and again this one is done it was a long project but I think it came out amazing and we're in the process of getting the metal fence right there. But that whole That's brand new concrete and we'll just tap kind of fence into place and it should give us nice look. So, if you have something

going on there, you won't have to worry about kids walking out on the tracks or anything. Very pleased with the way the train station turned out. I know that we were there doing the ribbon cutting, but I I was very pleased with the inside, the way that everything looked in the inside. Kitchen is immaculate. Yeah. And I've just the outside, the way things are going, I think that they did a wonderful job, the construction crew and the public works on that. Really nice job.

Thank you. Now, I did learn that Portsmouth, when you're in Virginia, you see Portsmouth, you think Portsmouth uh down by the water. This Portsmouth, Ohio, little did I know. Okay. I didn't know there was two Portsmouths, but now that we know, there's actually Portsmouth, Ohio, is where this where those papers came from. Next one. Next one. Oh, oh. That She keep going. So, this is the the playground done. Next, please. Uh the wastewater system, and this is what I was explaining earlier. So, the You see the blue area, it goes almost all the way to state line. That's where our stuff we process from all the way down there, all the way to town. And the blue lines are VBU lines or I'm sorry, they were it's service authority lines, but they pump it up Lee Highway to us and then our facility's in town. And on the far right hand side, you'll see up up in the VBU and that's not ours, either. We are right past the hospital. But so, when they do this study, they're looking at what's available cuz I think some of the other ones in the in the county have theoretical availability, but in actuality, they don't have any availability cuz of how the land is laid and how the pipes are lined up. But in our system, we actually have availability, so they're wanting to do the study to figure out exactly who's what and where. So, that's part of what's going on, but it's not the most attractive picture. What? Sorry. Siri's. Sorry, that was weird. Um

[laughter]

Yeah, creepy, too. Anyway, I'll put that in my back pocket. Yeah, with the with this thing. So, the the thing is it's huge, but it's also the most valuable asset in the area, so we want to make sure that we we know what its capabilities are and what needs to be done so we can plan properly. Next one. Uh yeah, so this is and this gets into the budget here in a second. Since I've been here, one of the things we've tried to do is to is to both improve our fire services and then also um try and get better funding from the county on the fire services. And And and and looking at the our current budget that we have that we're in right now, uh this was as of this morning, so these are year-to-date numbers. Uh but our our budget for the current fiscal year for fire is $732,244. Uh and of that, 38.4% of those calls are handled out in the county where the where the [clears throat] the firemen are actually out on calls and occupied and otherwise not available. So, it's 38% of their time they're out in the county. That's gone down, hasn't it? Yeah, it's it's gone down. It used to be up to 55, so it has definitely made it made an impact. The volume of the the minor calls, they're not we're not having to respond to those, but calls where there's like actual like a couple years ago I said, "If it's orange and hot, we're going." On those calls, we're we're spending about 16% of I think I remember last year it was 55%. Yeah, it was it was good bit higher. Yeah, so so there has been some adjustments, but the downside is is, you know, we're funded at they they pay for 16% of what we spend and they use 38.4%, so we're functionally subsidizing that service by $169,431 on top of the $111 that we're paid, so that's something that we're still looking at and just and then what these dots represent is these are all where we were all second due is the reds and the

oranges, but the leave it to Chief, the orange ones were we were first. Yeah, so orange ones we were first on scene even though we were dispatched to be second. And you see some of those are pretty far away for us to be first on scene, so there's still an opportunity for improvement when it comes to fire in the in the area and in the region. But I just wanted to put that one out there. Next one. Yes, and so this is Now we'll get into the budget presentation. As what we try to do with staff is have events that are not everything's going to be pleasing to all people, but we try to have events that are fun for everybody. And so, we have the Thursday night jams restarting not every weekend, but it's I think it's one Thursday a month something to that effect. And you know, they were I was talking to them this morning and it's some sort of they said Brooks and Dunn and then line dancing. I swore I swore no line dancing at my wedding. I just don't do that. Um but that said, but you know, it's not what I want, it's what everybody loves and apparently there's a lot of great feedback from folks, especially the folks who've been around here a while. We try to have events that you know, it's not not everything's going to appeal to everybody, but at the end of the year at the end of the the day, a lot of our stuff will appeal to a lot of people and you know, that's the plan. This is our I think it was our third or fourth Halloween and we had a great event this past Halloween, so the idea is to bring people to town, let them have a good time and and just enjoy being here. Now, we're going to do your budget stuff. Okay. All right, so I'll start with the general fund and I'm just going to do just a just a recap. If you have any if you have any questions, just let me know. Um so, for 2027, we are budgeting the use of general funds to $692,748. And for revenue, all rates including real estate,

lodging, and meals are going to be unchanged. Um for the actual revenue, the tax revenues coming in, um we are going to hold constant for sales, meals, lodging. We're not going to budget any type of increase. We're just going to budget flat. Um for expenditure for personnel, we're budgeting with a 3% cola. Um the budget does include 11.6% increase in our health premium. And then we do have a budget of three new head count. It includes $188,904 in grant matches and $404,395 in capital outlay projects which you know, it was all last time. And that is the just the overall summary for general. Anybody have any questions specifically about general? Okay. Then I will move right along to enterprise or sewer fund. So, for the sewer fund, we are budgeting an addition to the sewer fund reserves for about $64,635. Um this includes revenue of service rate increase of 4%. It includes capital improvement plan funding for debt and grants. Um it's going to be the continuation of phase one. Phase two will start. Um we budgeted for South View pump station and the Wolf Creek water reclamation facility phase one. We we put the the figures in on both the revenue and the expense side for budget. But just like this past year, it it all depends on timing. Some of these projects may not even start, so it'll be a wash. Um for the expenditure assumptions,

um same thing as with the general personnel, cola 3%, 1.6% increase in health premium. It does include an additional debt service which is the phase one of 173233. And then um just some additional information, the South View pump station and force main relocation and the Wolf Creek water reclamation facility phase one, um those have estimated debt service payments in fiscal year of 2028. So, even if we were to start the projects based on the timeline, that's in the those payments, so we wouldn't have any payments with those for for fiscal year 2027. Any questions about the enterprise fund? All right. Any questions as a whole on the budget stuff or are we all good? It was a lot of work and Amanda's got a I'll brief that. We've been paying real close attention to everything, so uh we got a good handle on it and like I said, with even with the the the budgeted fund balance estimate usage, I wholly expect that not to be the case just uh basically uh cuz we're not produ- we're not projecting any revenue increases. and I'm fairly certain when the trail gets finished, um there'll there'll be revenue increases that will more than offset some of the some of the decrease.

of the finish of the trail? Last I heard it was by the end of November, but I know they had a a freeze delay or something to that effect. Um but I would they're I haven't gotten an update, but that their initial thing was by November or by the end of the the fall season, so um that's sometime in November range, but I need to talk to them and figure out where they're at, but they're going gangbusters, though. I was up there two weekends ago and yeah, they got a lot of folks working and working hard, so um I don't know exactly, but like I can tell you uh just from, you know, coming to town. I mean, we're getting you know, we we modified the ordinance for the e-bike and to allow some of the The idea was just to get the folks that maybe don't feel like riding both ways on to Damascus, which it uh is fun going downhill, but uphill is not always so much fun. Um Weather probably What's that?

probably plays a role in Oh, for sure. Yeah, but that The nice thing is is the and I I hear like we hit 2,200 people go to the uh the that went into the Alvarado station uh just last month. 2,200 is a good bit considering that they're not open all the time. And so, that that's getting some traction, but that's the midway point. And if you you spend time out there, you'll see a lot of folks that um that have some life experience and uh and they're out there and they're just on the e-bikes and sometimes they're on regular bikes, but it is nice cuz you're you're When the storm happened, we had folks that didn't know that the uh trail actually ended in Abingdon. And so, they know that now. It actually is a pretty ride. Um it's far it's a far easier ride uh to enjoy yourself cuz you're not worried about going past you and whatnot. So, I do think that uh our revenues will will certainly exceed what we're budgeting. Uh and if you saw the the meals from last month, then we're we're ahead of budget estimate on that. So, I think given the pretty strong spring we had,

[clears throat]

uh it should turn out pretty good for us. So, One of the things too um talking with our advisory board members about lodging cuz we were just trying to gauge whether the uh contractors that are working on on the trail have have a significant impact on on our lodging cuz our lodging has been down. Cuz after 30 days, you no longer they they don't have to collect uh sales tax because then it kind of goes to long-term lodging. And he spoke to several of the the owners of the hotel and he said that most of them uh continue to collect that they don't that it's they actually have to file exemptions for that. He said that he believed um based on some conversations that it had to do with actual government shutdown that one of the hotel owners that his he his occupancy was usually 40% federal uh personnel that were coming through and that would stop. And when they put a halt on their travel, then they're actually not coming coming through. So, Mhm. if that changes, then that would actually also Help out some, yeah. Yeah. I did have a question, Amanda. The uh sewer service rate increase of 4% that's included, how much is that expected to generate? Uh to generate, I'm I'm not for sure. I'll have to tell you exactly what that is. Um I'll get that for you. Um I was prepared for a different question. You would ask me maybe what the increase was in dollars. So, I had If you'll tell us what the increase is, then

I don't have this one, but I have this one. [laughter] So, um currently, it would be uh a dollar 31 increase for resident in town and $2.38 for resident out of town. But I'll get you what $2 and what was that? 38?

38 for residential out of town and 131 resident in town. And I'll get you what the total increase [clears throat] is. Yeah, and the 4% is down cuz last year it was 7.2. Yeah, it was 7.2. Yeah, and so, the rate study will will impact that for next next fiscal year. Yeah. I apologize. I will get that Oh, that's no problem. Yeah, she'll run that math in her head in a minute, but I just wanted to see how that played in with the the transfer of the gain to the reserves and see how close it was today. Uh Wildan, who's doing our rate study, um they they gave us that rate based on looking at our current debt service, looking at all these all those sewer projects that that I mentioned, the the phase two, the force main, all that. They look at all that and some of those projects, even though they're on our plan now, it may be two, three, four years from now. And so, they actually factor in construction costs and all that increasing. You know, they they don't do it on what costs are now. So, that's just the figure that they gave us for to meet all of our ratios for VRA, for our internal financial policies, our base cash base cash on hand, all of that that's what they tell us that we need to maintain in order to meet all that criteria. Um but I will I will check to see how much of that addition makes it that. Thank you. And I'll get back to Thank you. As I said, we don't have anybody signed up for public hearing, I'll open the public hearing. If anybody would like to speak on the public hearing of the

ordinance of the town council of the town of Abingdon proposing the budget. Um like I said, we don't have anybody here, so I'm going to close that public hearing. We have no resolutions today. We do have a first reading of ordinance and that is the ordinance to amend the the fiscal uh year 2025-26 annual budget. And we have Amanda back up again. of director finance Yeah. Would anybody like to make a motion? [clears throat]

No. I would. Is that a motion? I So, shall this matter be rejected? Should it Should this matter be rejected? No further discussion. Kim, will you please call roll? We call roll. We won't call roll. go past that one. We'll just go past that one.

the first reading on that one and we'll do the first reading on this one. Okay, we'll do the first reading on the ordinance of the council of the town of Abingdon proposing the budget to make amendments for the current expenses to fix the to fix the tax rate upon real and personal property for the financial year beginning July the 1st, 2026 and ending June the 30th, 2027. Um Shall this proposal be rejected? No. We'll move forward with that. That's all you got. All right. Um we have no second reading of ordinance today, no consideration of bids, no new business, no old business. And we have miscellaneous business and communication from the town manager. Yeah, well, tomorrow is 36 years from the day that my high school guidance counselor said would never come, hahaha which is when I graduated from college. So, uh Anyway, uh no, it's uh it should be a busy weekend. Uh we got the Cinco de Mayo and all the other things that are happening in town. So, and clerk's week. Uh so, we have a lot of things happening in town. If you'd noticed it's there's a lot of people in town uh for different things. And prom was last weekend and I understand it went off well. Um the florist did well on that one. Um So, anyway, uh the only thing I've got coming is, you know, the the uh the Thursday Jams we have coming up and and then the Wolves uh and look forward to the uh the release of the band Wingo app, which will be the the one that helps you find the do what we want. Scavenger hunts for things. I think that will be it came out well. So, Well, I know we had the historic preservation day last Friday at the Martha Washington Inn. I thank Gabe and his crew and everyone that's on the historic preservation board did a wonderful job with that set up. Um I know there were a lot of people that that live in the historic district that were present for that. It was good to see that. We had a lot of locals there. We had a lot of people from

Christiansburg as well, too. So, I know uh Don and Wayne both showed up for that. Thank you all for showing up for that. And we also had the ribbon cutting at the the train station for the the kitchen. I thought that was a nice turnout as well. And I'm I'm eager to see what business that will generate for the town of Abingdon as well, too. Wayne Mr. Cockrum is not the only one who has a picture with an apron. Yeah. I think I wore mine the whole day. I don't have anything. Well, I I'd like to say that today is International Firefighters Day, May the 4th, and it's celebrated and I would especially like to thank our firemen salute and honor them today for the job they do for us here in Abingdon. We appreciate them. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for bringing that up, Don. Amanda, do you have anything? I don't have anything to add. All right, we have no appointments to boards or committees. So, I will call this meeting adjourned.