Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Good evening everyone. Uh we really do appreciate everybody coming out this evening. Um this is exactly we want to hear from you. We look forward to your comments and we appreciate you being here again. We'll begin our meeting uh with uh the call to order. Of course, we'll have our invocation offered by Mr. Meredith and the pledge by Mr. Tatum. So, if you would stand, please.

Let us pray. Lord, as we come to you this evening, thank you for everybody's here today showing the interest in our county and everything direction we're going. And Lord, we ask you for guidance this evening as we uh give us the wisdom and knowledge and courage to make the right decisions to carry your path forward. And Lord, we also this evening keep a lookout everybody on their way home and also the ones who were not able to come today or are facing some u situations at home. Look at them and in your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Mr. Okay. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all.

Okay. Thank you so much. So, um, in terms of the structure for this evening, um, just a brief overview, um, if you'd indulge me for just a moment, this evening's meeting, um, is to hold three public hearings. Uh, one of which is for the 2627 budget. Then there'll be a separate public hearing on the tax levies and then there'll be a third public hearing on the s on the U meals proposed levy. And so, um, keep in mind that when you come up for comments that you are coming up under the appropriate public hearing for which you want to comment and and that'll help, I think, things move a little more efficiently for all of us in here this evening. Uh, so in accordance with sections 15.2-2503 and 15.22506 22506 of the code of Virginia as amended. This is the advertised day and time set for the Franklin County Oh yes. Thank you. Supervisors to conduct public hearings on the proposed 2627 county budget and proposed levies. As part of the advertisement, there is a synopsis of the pro proposed 2627 budget and the proposed levies. You'll see that and that will remain on the screen for your reference points tonight. No entry in the budget constitutes an obligation on the part of the county until such funds are appropriated by the Franklin County Board of Supervisors. I will uh pause at this moment. Uh Mr. Jameson um wishes to join us virtually. Uh do we have him on the line, Samantha?

Yes, he's on the line. Okay. All right. So, what I would need uh is a motion uh by one of the supervisors to allow Mr. Jameson to participate virtually uh within our meeting. So moved. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. All those in favor, please say I. I. And all like sign. Okay. Very good. Marshall, good evening, sir. Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. We can uh you buzz in. Let us know if you have something to say any anywhere along the way. Uh we appreciate you being with us. It means a great deal to us. Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here.

Of course. So, um this synopsis that you see is the one that was actually advertised announcing the public hearings. Um the total budget uh request is $254,921,797 of which amount 107 million 92881 is the school portion of our budget. Um so please feel free to reference that as we move forward. So before we get into our public hearings, I I need to read um a statement. So, as we have our public uh hearing comment, it's giving our citizens an opportunity to address the board in person or in writing on matters appropriate to the responsibilities of the board. Each speaker will be limited to three minutes for their comments or five minutes if if uh acknowledged um and notifying our clerk ahead of time. Uh speakers must direct all comments to the board as a whole and not to individual board members or employees of the board or county. Personal attacks and insulting, defamatory, profane or vulker language directed at individual supervisors or the board as a whole will not be tolerated. Likewise, commentary on issues that are not within the purview of the board and that are not a function of local government and over which we have no control are not acceptable. Public comment is not a question and answer session and board members will not answer questions during public comment. The chair of the board has the ultimate authority to manage the time the board allocates to public comment. The chair's authority includes, but is not limited to, limiting public comment to one person per side, or position of a topic, shortening the time that each speaker has to speak, and or waving any of the public comment

provisions when appropriate and/or necessary. If a speaker violates these rules, the chair may rule the speaker out of order and upon second violation, have the speaker removed from the podium. So with that, oh with that in mind, um I am going to at this point open the public hearing uh on the proposed 2627 budget. Uh Madame Clerk, can you um tell us who signed up to speak, please? First, we have Dennis Crumpler and he's requested five minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Crumpler. Okay, we'll we'll move on. If he should come in late, we'll certainly Pardon. Somebody say something. Um, we'll move on. If Mr. Crumpler should come in late, we'll circle back and get him as well. Next, we have Dawn Greer. She's also requested five minutes. Okay. U Miss Greer, good evening. So, Miss Greer, with your request for five minutes, are you here representing a group? Yes, ma'am. Can is your group with you? Yes, ma'am. Can you have them stand, please?

Okay. Thank you. We just have to verify these things for the record. So, thank you very much. Could if you'd state your name and your address, I would appreciate that. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am. My name is Don Kingrier. I reside in Phum and my permanent address is in Hardy. I bring before you an opportunity in a new budget plan. Each one of you have presented with a packet. Um there's some issues with our current budget. You've eliminated the if you eliminate the 18 new full-time positions that you've allotted in there. Uh this saves $1.7 million. Now, the 12 EMT and EMS positions, those are a response to a document crisis in volunteerism. Without them, response times in rural areas like Pham and Glade Hill, they suffer. The Commonwealth Attorney and administrative positions, while helpful for workflow, do not carry the same immediate lifesaving weight. With the school system losing over 130 students and 1 million in state funding, the county should not be expanding its administrative foot footprint. You can argue that until the school and the county's funding gap is resolved, the only new hires should be directly to save the lives with EMTs. A position to a 30-year commitment. Each new hire adds to the county's long-term pension and other post-employment benefit programs by saving nearly 500,000. Now the county avoids a compendent debt problem. The public safety fleet deferred the sheriff's office vehicle upload requests again. By extending the life of our current fleet 12 months saves over $400,000. This money should be redirect directed immediately to security upgrades at our existing school buildings. The sheriff department needs improvement in training, not vehicles to show off. Redundancy and federal grants. Franklin County just received 67,000 968 in federal funding for the Franklin

County Sheriff's Office radio system upgrades. This grant covers the internal tech for many vehicles. You can argue that the county should wait to see how far this federal money goes before you add any more from the citizens. asset life cycle management uplifting a one-time cost that runs over 15 to 25,000 per vehicle. By defering the uplift the three or four new cruisers, the county can save nearly $100,000 immediately. To balance this budget without a tax hike, we must look at the people in the hardware by deferring the six non-emergency positions. Paul's in the sheriff's office up vehicle uplifting. That's immediately 600,000 in savings. We're not done. Parks and recreation in the trail maintenance deferral. Virginia recreational trails program is currently accepting applications through May 5th. That's three weeks. The opportunity is an 8020 match grant funded by the federal infrastructure investment and jobs act. It specifically is rehabilitating existing trails and trail related facilities. Any local funds allocated for repairs in Wes Park or Philpot Lake Trail should be deferred. Instead, the county should apply for the 1.4 million available in this grant cycle. If the county was planning 100,000 in trail maintenance, moving to an 8020 grant would save $80,000 in local tax revenue. Safe streets and roads for all bill. The federal government has released roughly 1 million available for the safe streets and rounds for road all program. Franklin County is at the strongest position to win this grant due to the rural and tribal area that we have. Virginia budget HP30 has allocated 100 million per year for the revenue sharing

program. the standalone the county prod uh produces VOTE a 50/50 match spending a dollar of local money on a project that VOTE would pay 50 cents for in fiscal negligence in a year where the schools are losing 1 million in state revenue the capital improvement you're going to cancel the village improvement funds for the growth because if we hold our A1 agricultural district as we the people of Franklin County want we keep our farms And that keeps us in a 1988 security blanket from the data centers which we all agree with. AMEN.

Deferring these this money to the much needed uh Liam Wade for the new boiler beautifies the growth areas and it should be the priority. You cannot grow a new village until you take care of the one you already have. protecting Franklin County under an A1 agricultural district is the backbone of our heritage. The infrastructure trap when the county spends CIP money on village improvement, it creates a lose it or lose it. And that pressures the reasoning required the A1 land, right? Planning unit development to justify the investment. Miss Grier Thomas up. I'm sorry. I'm glad we were able to go five minutes. It's all in your emails. Thank you.

So, you can check your emails. You all have a copy of the plan. We just found $2 million in investments for Franklin County that we could use. And we also can cancel that whole zoning deal and keep our A1 heritage. Thank you, Mr. G. We really do appreciate all of your work, Doug Davidson. Lad ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to ask that you withhold your applause um as speakers are at the podium. Um, I understand your enthusiasm and I respect that, but I've got to maintain a level of decorum in the boardroom this evening. Doug Davidson. Hello, Mr. Davidson.

Hello. Here we are again. No, no. If you would go to the microphone, Doug, and state your name and address, please. Doug Davidson, 265 Cove Drive. words. Uh I I

Oh, first of all, I want to start off on a positive note and I want to thank the uh sheriff's department and all the fire and rescue uh that we have in this county keeping us safe. We have an excellent sheriff's department and I personally want to commend them for uh the work they do. Um, I was perusing through your uh lovely budget here. Um, and the fact that you want to raise uh property taxes by 77 cents or whatever it is, meal tax and equipment tax is a disgrace. We have uh the average median salary in this county is 69,000 or just below which is skewed because there's so much uh county uh management and salaries involved in it and teacher salaries. There's 54,000 people in this county that's been going down. average age is 48 and we have 9% poverty in this county and these are uh 26 and 25 statistics and 16% of the children's county uh live below poverty or in the poverty line. But on the other hand, the county administrator, he's doing a great job. He gets paid $173,000 a year. And then the uh Commonwealth attorney, he's getting 175. Social services uh director 149 circuit clerk Kurt or circuit clerk of the circuit court 166. Uh two uh as uh two assistant county administrators, 127 each. So, you have a total of 17 administrators and people in the county that are paid over $100,000.

Deputy clerk, uh, 145. Treasurer 119. Commissioner revenue 139. Who who knew it would be so lucrative to be in this job? I mean, it's crazy. So, I think that uh before you start raising taxes on any of us uh that are trying to maintain a reasonable uh uh standard of living, you need to go and cut the salaries of those people because if you cut their salaries by 10%, you would save $250,000. Now, the school budget, that's a laugher. You have a superintendent making $170,000 a year and he can't even balance his own budget and he's misplacing money all over the place. Does he get a bonus? Cuz I mean he's doing a bangup job. And then you have seven directors making $110,000 on average. Seven directors in the school s what are they directing? Go figure. So you have 234 members of the school. Oh crap.

Your time's up, Mr. Davidson. I'm so sorry. Peggy Peggy Newman. Taxation without equal representation. Save us. Don't raise our taxes. Peggy Newman.

Miss Newman. Good evening. If you would um give your name and your address, please. Your what? I'm sorry. I don't feel good. Sorry. Can I let Dawn read my statement? Of course. Okay. Thank you. Of course. I'm so sorry. Dawn.

Can we get you a water or something, Miss Newman? No, I'm okay. You sure? I just need to sit down. Okay. Okay. Hello again. Okay. Hi. Do you um have her address? Name and address. She's Hardy. My name and address. Peggy Newman 437.

Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for coming back up, Don. appreciate it. Okay, so uh this is in regards to the grant opportunities for rural preservation.

So instead of send spending our CIP money on growth areas, the suggestion to the county is to pivot the grants towards keeping an A1 district. The Virginia Office of Farmland Preservation provides matching grants purchase developmental right programs. Rather than spending 200 on sidewalks for a village that doesn't exist yet, the county should keep that money to match a PDR program. This pays farmers to keep their land production permanently, satisfying the 1988 go plan's goal of rural preservation while costing the county less in the long run since farms require fewer services than houses and nothing's taught us more than our Smith Mountain Lake adventure on that. If you combine all your points to the proposed citizens budget, our team has managed to cut six of the non-EMS positions. That is 480,000 to focus on the safety and life saving only defer the sheriff's vehicles and uplifts. That's another 120 uses existing fleet federal grants. Challenge the village improvement plan that needs to be canceled out completely. We're in a deficit. You're not going to take our tax dollars and raise our taxes to cover your idea of growing a new village when the remaining of the farms that you have left land here want to stay agriculture. If we as a community wish to stay agriculture and there's more fun funding for agriculture than turn it into a data center in your village plan. Who are you to turn around and tax us more and raise our taxes to cover your business losses? The capital village improvement CIP is canled. That's $200,000. Utilizing the 8020 for parks and w gr grants, that's 80,000. That's a total of $880,000

covering 88% of our fed school gap. And you better save money in our backup plan. We don't need to be changing and building into a new village when we are already A1 A and Franklin County's agricultural. You're taking away federal USDA grants to the rest of us, even not in zoned areas, and you know that. Thank you. As a point of reference, as a point of reference, if you are part of a group that's going to you have somebody that's going to speak for five minutes, um your time is reserved for that group presentation and you should not speak a second time. um because we're not going to be able to do that. So, just for reference point, we're gonna we're going to hear you once. Um and that's that's just the proper decorum for this type of hearing. All right, Madame Clerk.

Don Tyson.

Miss Tyson. Good evening, Miss Tyson. Hi. How are you? Good. Thank you for being with us. If you'd state your name and address for the record, please.

I am Don Tyson. My address is 2911 Al Road, Boonville, Virginia. Um, I'd like to talk about spending. The spending that I'm looking at and that I'm hearing about doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Being a Tyson, we come from North Carolina. A couple years ago, y'all did a analysis on whether or not we could have industrialized chicken farms here. And from my supervisor who's not here tonight, he said that it costs 70 to75,000 for you all to see if we needed to have a commercialized chicken farm here or could have one. But as a Tyson from North Carolina, I could have told you for free that you needed the infrastructure to do so. The farming that you would have to do for that could be found out on a modernized thing called a phone that you Google. You can find out how to do that. But you spend that money on a study that costs my money and I am so I I was so floored by that. And then it makes me wonder what other things are you spending money on that we don't know about. Now we do know about some money that was spent on the study um for the planning that's going to tax us. And being a Tyson, I still have chickens and I'm an A1. My mom raised us in Virginia and I'm a proud Virginia

on three acres. She had four children and on those three acres we had 100 to 75 chickens at a time with eggs and chickens and a garden to feed us. If you don't allow us to stay A1 agricultural and get the grant money that we need, you are going to be starving children. Thank you very much. Thank you, Corkeron Tyson.

Good evening, Mr. Tyson. If you'd state your name and address for the record, please. My name is Corpin Tyson and I am at 2911 Al Road in Boones Mill, which actually is part of Callaway.

Thank you. Um, very briefly, uh, we're zoned at A1, as you probably know, at least a lot of the county is. The proposed zoning rephrase basically takes away any of the freedom that any of us have to operate small farms or small farms for profit. Uh, those things that we have to generate income. We generate income, we generate tax money. We can't generate income. We can't generate tax money. That's just how it works. Um if in fact they are going to be reszoned, then that would violate the 1981 um freedom to farm act which was passed by the state legislature designed to protect small farms from such incursion. Um the taxes that would be proposed in regards to individual implements and items are those things that are instrumental in part of the being part of the farm. Those things really should not be taxed and we're being taxed. In fact, we were here two years ago talking about property tax increases and yet here we are again. So what's happened between now and then? Uh you have an outside company coming in and telling you how they this should be done and yet they're not from this area. So they have no idea. Uh I also understand that this same organization um was part of a proposal down in Patrick County which was disallowed and I understand that the city or the county planner was then forced to resign as a result. So, um, all in all, I don't think it's a good idea. We've paid these taxes. We keep paying taxes. Um, and we have to ask for what? I mean, if we look up here, we gotund

$107 million for a school budget for how many schools? We have 12 schools in this in this county. That's almost $10 million a school. Some of these schools are big, some of them are really small. So, I mean, there's lots of meat here to look at. So, I don't think by and large we should be considering raising taxes again after we just did this two years ago. Thank you. Thank you, SIR. Willis Bugamman Willis Bugamman. Patricia Swede.

Good evening. If you'd state your name and address for the record, please. Sure. It's Patricia Sweat. I know it wasn't my idea. Just like you sweat. One Country Wood Lane Rocky Mail. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thanks for having everyone here. Uh, I wanted to read a quote. It's a good one. And and I'm not that bright, but I can understand it. Leaders have devoted themselves to politics, little knowing, it seems, that political independence disappears without economic independence. That economic independence is the foundation of political independence. And I don't know if you all know who made that quote. It was Booker T. Washington, a pretty important guy to Franklin County. Okay. Born and raised in an agricultural area. Had a lot to do with agricultural and quite successful. And um that plays a lot into what's going on right now, I think, and very relevant. And this is an agricultural community. That's why I moved here 24 years ago. It drew me to have that kind of self-reliance. And I think everyone here wants to keep that. That's part of community. That's who we are to our core. And when I see things like the Berkeley Group and I wanted to know who are they and why do we need them and they're quite popular in Virginia. As a matter of fact, I myself because they didn't provide a list. I found a list of all the counties, but I ran out of time. I didn't run out of counties that I could get. They are working for us. Franklin County, they're doing assess. They did assessments for York County on on personnel and zoning and write up all these ideas that what you can do to implement in your county. Charlotte County on zoning and heavy heavy on solar policy changes for land use. Rapahanic county zoning. Patrick County zoning land use and Berkeley tried to push for changes that were counter to current land use for solar and Patrick County subsequently sever ties with the Berkeley group. uh Northampton County had wanted uh they gave ideas for

Northampton County to make changes to having uh short-term leasing and having regulation. King George County, city of Martinsville, Academic Akamat County, uh the Berkeley Group has strong ties to solar farms, Henry County Comprehension Pan, and they paid the Berkeley Group $212,39 to rewrite it. Uh the Berkeley Group was able to receive from the VMS. Uh that is, you know, $8 million of taxpayer money part of the Virginia uh housing development. Uh they paid the Berkeley Group to give them some ideas on a five-year strategic plan outlining how to best allocate funds. But that was taxpayer money. I want to know more about the Berkeley Group. I want to know who they are and why do we need them to do this? Why is every county going to them for some type of revisions and ideas? Why do we need to pay them? What did we pay them? Don Bertier. Don Bertier.

Good evening, sir. Good evening. If you'd state your name and address for the record, please.

Thank you, ma'am. My name is Don Berier. I'm at 430 Hartwell Drive in Hardy. Um, may I please the board? I'd like to call your attention to pages 50 and 59 of the proposed budget. Uh, Hardy volunteer for over 50 years, has served both sides of the county line, and is the primary firstdue company for our area. As a citizen of the Gills Creek area, um, served by Hardy Fire, I'd like to understand why the county has apparently singled out Hardy Fire as not being worthy of financial support, yet still serves the county. As shown in the budget book, there's not been any planned allocation for Hardy in recent years. In fact, there's been nothing since 2019. There was a budget amount last year, but it appears it was reallocated to the Company 11 Marine Group. This year there is no allocation in the current budget at all for Hardy which sends a very direct message that this volunteer organization is not valued by Franklin County. The chief, assistant chief, president, secretary, and treasurer are all residents of Franklin County and we're taxpayers of Franklin County. It's become deeply personal to myself and my family. Hardy Fire is much closer than most of the other fire houses in Franklin County. And in 2024, I called Franklin County and said, "How do I volunteer?" And I learned that I needed to go to Bedford County to support my citizens in my subdivision in my area. So my wife and I joined up, went through training, certified fire one, hazmat, EVOC, fire 2, and pump ops to where we can support our community. My son is at Franklin County High as a junior. He is now a junior member of Hardy Fire. We're committed to this community. I'm keenly aware that there's unproductive tension between our group

at Hardy 12 and folks in the county and it's unfortunate because if there is a plan to remove support for Hardy 12 from Franklin County, we'd like to understand it. We can't seem to find out why it is that we're being singled out or what we can do to fix it. I believe our residents deserve transparency on the topic. Otherwise, I would request that the county restore funding in the budget that's currently on the books to show that we are respected, we are valued, and are part of what's supporting our citizens. If there's something Hardy needs to do to make that happen, let us know. We will work to make that happen. But public safety is a big deal. I've run calls, structure fires, vehicle accidents, brush fires. We have brush truck tankers that the station 15 at Westlake doesn't have. We are half as far away from most of the residents in Hardy than Burnt Chimney or West Lake or even the Ronup folks that get called in to support us. Please support Hardy 12. It's clear that we've been singled out as not worthy. I would ask that that be restored for the citizens of our area. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Sandra Altus. Sandra Altus. There's another name under It looks like another Altus, but I can't make out the first name. Okay. Tammy Heheart. Lynn Wnau. I apologize if I pronounced that wrong. Good evening, sir. If you'd state your name and address for the record, please. Yeah. Len Wajno, Chestnut Forest Drive in Hardy, Virginia.

Thank you. Uh the good people of Franklin County have come up and given you some wonderful suggestions on how to cut the budget and I think a lot of them a lot of it has enormous amount of merit. Uh they have very good ideas about keeping Franklin Franklin County agricultural and traditional. So, we like it just the way it is, right? And we don't want to see it change. So, please uh take their suggestions and do everything you possibly can do to implement their ideas. I think they're an excellent resource. I think you should listen to them. I have a deep amount of respect for them from my heart and I appreciate you listening to them. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you,

Bobart. Okay. Robert Japa. Yupa. Yupa. And I'm old, so if I stumble on the way up for You're in good company, sir. Believe me, I know all about it. Good evening. Thank you for being with us. If you'd state your name. My pleasure. My honor to be here. If you'd state your name and address, sir. Name is Robert Ayupa. IUPPA and I live on 108 Tealbrook Road in in Rocky Mount, but we're closer to Boonville. Thank you.

And um I first of all, I come here in peace, all of you. And I really uh I'm going to make I'm going to be talking two other times. I'm going to make reference to an ostrich. And I just want to I have 2 minutes and 47 seconds. So I'll give you a little my background. I'm from a a city in upstate New York called Rochester. Very proud to be from Rochester. I was born in 1940. So I my teenage years were happy days. And uh but my point tonight is we're living in the year 2026. A little bit different. In fact, the last 10 years a lot different. The last five years a lot different. So any criticism I give tonight is going to be very constructive. And on the budget, I don't have all the facts and figures on my fingertips like the previous speakers have. But I'm uh do a lot of planning. I still work in Rocky Mount and I have a company and we always plan a year ahead. Any event that I do, we plan a year ahead. And I'm quite disappointed in what happened to our school system this year being blindsided the way they were blindsided. And a lot of surrounding counties are having the same different problems, but the same thing with the school systems. It's without a doubt our biggest asset, the children of Franklin County, and we got to do the right thing for them. So my advice to all of you is to I taught this in leadership class, the art of asking questions and developing relationships. The people in the school board have got to be operating from an offensive

position. They've got to know what's going on when money's coming to them from Richmond or wherever it comes from. if if they wait and see what happens, then all of a sudden you're on defense and it's not going to work for the children. So, basically, that's all I have to say right now and I'm going I'm going to be quite passionate about the meal tax and the other thing we're going to be talking about and I appreciate the time. Thank you. Thank you so much, Becky Minn.

Becky Min. Right. John Brazil. Okay. Good evening, sir. If you'd state your name and address, please. My name is John Brazil. Uh my address is 1160 Dry Hill Road, and that's in Fair. Thank you.

And I also come in peace. I I know you all have got a a tough job and I didn't come here prepared to speak, but I put my name on there in case I wanted to say something. I was kind of moved to say something. I've I've lived here for 25 years. I got stationed here as a trooper, young trooper. Fell in love with it here. And it was because of the small town environment that we have here. So, one thing I'd like you to remember is remember why probably most of you live here, too. We like it that way. So, you want to grow and you want to have stuff for your kids, but we don't want to grow too fast, too quick, or whatever. We want to keep and we also want to be able to listen to people. Uh, one thing over the years as being a trooper, I get to drive around the counties a lot. And you can actually gauge the health of a community by looking at the houses and how people are keeping them up, spending money to repaint them and stuff like that. One thing that I've noticed here in the last 10 years or so is that seems to have dropped people. And I don't think it's because people want to. I I think they they just simply can't.

So, you know, when I I saw the budget here, I think when you when you're talking about the increase that you're wanting to do, it comes up, if you do the math, somewhere between 17 and 18%. That's a big jump. Most of us, we never get a pay raise that. And if we are if we do get a pay raise that that big, we're dancing, you know, hey man, I I hit the lottery. Uh so when you're when you're doing your deliberations, please consider that. There's a lot of people if you think about the the cola increases for people on a fixed budget.

You know, they're what what would they get last year? 2.5%. And then this year they're going to get a 2.8%. So now when you're talking about t doing a 18% you can imagine what those people are thinking. You know they're already strapped and I think a lot of people are upset not just by what's going on here in the local community. They're upset by what's going on in the nation and also at the state level. You know we go from having a statewide surplus and now they're taxed and they've we've got more taxes coming down the road than they ever we ever dreamed of. So they're already upset about that. But this is where the people can come and meet face to face

with people making the decisions. So please consider that. You know, this is this is what's motivated me. We got to start somewhere. Start at the crown level here and hopefully it'll go up. But that's all I have to say tonight. Thank you very much, Batia Nandanda. Good evening. Good evening. If you'd come and state your name and address for the record, please. Yes. Um, I am speaking on behalf of a group. My speeches usually take like not not even three minutes, but just in case. Can I get my five? Thanks. Oh, hang on, hang on, hang on. Um,

I need my address and my name. Huh? No, you're asking for five minutes. Um, did you let the clerk know ahead of time? And do you have a group that you're speaking on behalf of? Yes. FCEA. Excuse me. There are several of us that wish. Okay. Never mind. I'll just take the three. You take your three minutes. And did you give your address, sir? I'm sorry. Yes. I apologize. So, my name is Batananda. Okay. 3249 Foothills Road. Thank you very much. Thank you for indulging. Yeah, no problem. Am I ready to go? Yes.

Okay. Uh, hello board. My name is Batia Nanda. I've been living here for a few years. I love it here. Um, yeah. Thank you for having me. I want to state my position clearly in support of funding our future, by funding our children, by funding our schools. Our children deserve the best education they can get. And because of the widespread poverty in this country, they I mean in this county, they need it in order to advance their circumstances. I trust our school board to do the right thing with this money by investing in our future. This way, Franklin County will become a more prosperous and economically active location. More small businesses will come up, which will create more spendy citizens, which will in turn be able to give back more to Franklin County instead of money leaving the county to, you know, big corporate box stores and such. Uh, I also am in support of funding aging services, public health, parks and recreation, food security, and sanitation. I am not in support of the zoning ordinance. Uh data centers will make the rich richer and the poor poorer. It will cause money to leave the county and uh it will pollute our water and air. By making smart decisions that take the interests of our proud working class into account, we can make this county revered for its educational prowess and economic stability. Thank you all.

Thank you very much. Lauren W. Good evening. How are you? If you just state your name and address, please.

Lauren Walk, 355 Rollling Hill Drive in Rocky Mount, Virginia. Thank you. You're good to go. All right. Hi, my name is Lauren Walk. I am the PTO president at Boonesill Elementary School. I have worked with the school for the last uh year and a half and being a daughter of a teacher, I know how the school systems typically function. I want to say I think everyone in this room ultimately wants the same thing. We want our community to stay strong. We want to be responsible with how we spend our money and we want our kids to succeed. Our schools are a big part of that. The su success of our students is directly tied to the people teaching them every day. Quality teachers and pair professionals deserve to be paid for their work as a way to attract and retain qualified professionals. When we talk about funding, what we're really talking about is supporting educational professionals so they can do their jobs well. I also understand that no one here takes taxes lightly. I don't either. We've had many suggestions here for grants that should be utilized to alleviate the pressure put on citizens. It's important to fund what public services we have and take care of programs in use before moving forward with funding new housing and building developments. If we create an environment where our county thrives, more businesses will come. This isn't about politics. It's about making sure our kids have the opportunity to succeed and our community stays a place people want to live, work, and raise families. We need to find a sustainable way to support our citizens, our community, and our schools without relying on taxes continually to increase. We need to find a sustainable way forward. We are all in this together. Please consider pouring into industries here to help fund our needs.

We've had suggestions for how to raise agricultural development to help fund these things. I suggest you look into that and see if that is a viable option. I hope we can keep this in mind as we make these decisions. I know they're heavy and I know they're big, but they are important. Thank you. Thank you, Sama Ananda. Sama Ananda. Good evening. Good evening. How are you, sir? Very well, thank you. Please state your name and address for the record, please. Yes. My name is Samuel Joberg. I live at 3249 Foothills Road in Callaway. Thank you.

I'm going to keep my address brief. I'd like to thank you all for making the space for this to happen and for us all to have discussion. I know that it's very important. I am a young person that recently moved to Franklin County in the last few years and I will be starting a family here in the next couple years as well. I love Franklin County. It's a beautiful place and I know that education is one of the most important things for for rural communities and for all communities of any kind. So given all the variables to me 54% of the budget going to improving our educational systems is a worthy use of those funds and I'm in support of that proposal. Finally, I'd like to speak against the zoning ordinance for the purpose of specifically the data centers. I'm not I know that data centers are not going to improve the lives of people in this county in the long run and barely in the short term, especially considering the environmental impacts um as well as the economic impacts. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Shannon Brooks. Good evening, Shannon. Hi. If you'd state your name and address for the record, please. You could probably state my name and address by now. I was getting ready to say I should know that.

You should know that. Uh, I'm Shannon Brooks. I live at 1680 Stanford Road, Union Hall, Virginia. And I'm here tonight as a teacher in your school system. I had not planned to speak tonight. I really hadn't. I was just going to sit and watch, but I felt like I needed to speak. Um, this is not a fun meeting. Folks are mad. I get it. I get it. I'm mad, too. I just paid $50 for half a tank of gas. I paid $60 for a bag of groceries and it did not include cookies. I'm mad because my right knee seems to think we're working part-time now and my left knee has decided to just retire early altogether. It's okay to be mad. Anger can drive action, but we need to be mindful that anger can cause us to pull apart instead of together. I want to talk about the taxes. I have a very unpopular opinion. I think we need to invest in our county and I believe we need to raise that tax rate. Nobody wants higher taxes. I sure don't. But I sure like what they pay for and I think a lot of people do. I like having emergency medical technicians and fire services. I like having good schools. I like having parks. I like all the festivals. I like safe communities. I like outdoor lighting. I like aging services for my baby boomer parents. I like all these things. And I understand they cost more. Raising taxes will cost Franklin County families more. There's no doubt about it. $50 a year, $100 a year, $150 a year. But I would be remiss if I did not remind this board that there's a large population of your teachers who are

already paying a much higher tax than that. And you know what I'm talking about, $10,000 a year in some cases that they give up by staying with Franklin County. We can be mad about budgets. We can be mad about salaries, but ultimately those things are transparent and they are within our power to do something about If we don't like what we see, we need to educate ourselves and do something about it. And I am pleased to see the crowd here tonight participating in this process. And I can only speak for myself. But by golly, if I'm going to spend 50 bucks on something or 60 bucks more on something or whatever, I want it to be in my county. I want it to be for my county. I don't mind paying more if it's for my community, if it's an investment in my children. your children, my neighbors, your neighbors, the people behind me, the people sitting in front of me. Because when you come right down to it, what else is worth investing in except each other? That's what I think anyway. I hope you think so, too. Thank you.

Thank you, Shannon. Appreciate it. Arthur Rice Good evening, Mr. Rice. Thank you for being with us. If you state your name and address and go to the microphone if you don't mind. Uh, yes. I'm uh Arthur Rice and uh live in 905 Highland Farm Road. Thank you. And uh Oh, yeah. I looking through this uh budget here. Why does it cost uh Oh, why does it cost uh $57 million to transfer funds?

Yeah. And yeah, it says it right here. Transfer between funds, $57 million. We're not going to answer questions. Oh, you're not? Not during public comment, sir. But I would redirect you back um to talk with our staff because we want to make sure that our public understands the budget. Okay. And if you don't, we we'd love the opportunity to walk you through that. All right. It sounds good. Thank you. Have a good one. Thank you. And Dennis Crumpler, he let me know that he's here now if you want to go. Oh, good, good, good. Mr. Crumpler. And just a reminder, he did request five minutes. Yes. Thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Crumpler. Uh, you are here representing a group. I understand. I am. Can you have your members point them out if you want? Say again. I can point them out if you want. I'm sorry. I can point them out if you want or they can stand. Yeah. I just need to see that um we've got a group of people that you're representing. You've got one person, two more supposedly be here. Okay. If you'd state your name and address, Mr. Crumpler, please.

I'm Dennis Crumpler. I live at 285 Cove Road in Union Hall, and I am too am old and here in peace. Um, why are policy discussions about taxes, zoning, schools, economic development, and now even the keeping of chickens and bees riddled with such anger, division, and a pervasive growing sense of failure. This can be paralyzing, and one can only hope that this level of civic strife is unprecedented in this county. Yet in less than four months of 2026, that rancor and dissatisfaction have become defining characteristics of this board and its leadership. Like it or not, you own this. You ran for office. And ignoring this factor will only make it harder for your successors to repair after you're gone. I come before you with decades of experience running successful private and public businesses. In every organization where I've seen successful outcomes, leaders understand without exception that they were entrusted with other people's money to deliver a valuable product or service and that failure carried real consequences. Underperforming businesses lose value, they get restructured, people get fired and they shut down. and investors walk away with the expensive lessons about who not to back in the future. I say those things because that is the lens through which I view the relationship between citizens and this local government. Citizens are the investors. This board is management granted authority to raise taxes, deploy public assets, and deliver services that are to benefit all citizens. And accountability comes with that authority. What makes this relationship

or these relationships function is trust. Trust is built through routine credible communication and transparent disclosure to those who fund this enterprise. In times of financial stress or public confusion, effective leaders respond with more engagement, not less. They understand how questions of competence or ethical failure can be toxic. and they truthfully communicate their way through such issues rather than hide from them. Which raises a question I cannot answer. Why does this board have no equivalent forum? Elected officials elsewhere routinely schedule town halls for interaction with voters. Public companies host earnings calls. Yes, this board appears hermetically sealed, invoking closed sessions with regularity while offering no meaningful channel for two-way public engagement. And to be clear, this forum does not qualify as two-way engagement. It's one way. So, in an attempt to help find answers to this dilemma, local business owners are working with me to develop case studies on live Franklin County issues, each with multi-million dollar consequences, consequences that merit examination to illustrate concretely why transparency and truth matters in the public sphere. Examples of these trust impact cases will include the $4 million no bid HVAC contract. Do you understand that when you do a no bid contract, you can pay as much as twice what it would be in a bid situation? Maybe there's a reason. We don't understand why. Undisclosed contingent liabilities from former employee lawsuits and lawsuits resulting from unjust denials of solar project applications. And I have spoken personally with at least one of those

plaintiffs and they it's not going to be pretty and you're not going to win. Calculate the brand damage from a $60 million office park that's been sitting empty for years and how long will it take to repair those perceptions? Is the proposed budget going to put even a dent in the damage from a decade of financial negligence of our school system? And of course, why was there no investigation into the election interference allegations of supervisor supervisor Quinn raise? And what was the rush to punish him really all about? All of these cases will relate to trust, transparency, and how expensive violations of that can be. The voters who elected you expect and deserve the truth. The stakes are too high to simply wait and hope things improve. and we look forward to sharing the results of our case work with you in future public comment periods.

That's all THAT'S OKAY. I'm going to close this public hearing on the 20 2026 2027 budget. Um and um are there any comments from supervisors before we move to the next public hearing? Okay, hearing none. Um I'm going to open the next public hearing um to set tax levies um proposed tax levies I should say for the following classes of property. setting a tax levy of 50 cents per $100 of assessed value on real estate, public service corporation, property, and mobile homes pursuant to the authority of 58.1-3200 58.1-3201 3202 3203204 3205 of the code of Virginia as amended setting a tax levy of $241 per $100 of assessed value on personal property pursuant to the authority 51 51.58.1-350 35013502 3503 3506 of the code of Virginia as amended setting a tax levy of $189 per $100 of assessed value on personal property classified as heavy construction machinery included but not limited to land movers, bulldozers, frontend loaders, graders, packers, power shovels, grains, pile drivers, forest harvesting and silver cultural activity equipment and ditch and the other types of diggers owned by businesses pursuant to the authority of code section 58 uh.1-3508.2 2 of the code of Virginia as amended and setting a tax levy of.7 cents per 100 assessed value on machinery and tools

based on original cost and declining depreciation over a 7-year period. By the seventh year of depreciation, the effective rate is 28 cents per $100 assessed value. This rate is levied pursuant to the authority of 58.1-37, excuse me, 3507b of the code of Virginia as amended. And finally, setting a tax levy of $18 per $100 of assessed value on merchants capital pursuant to the authority of 58.1-3509 and 3510 of the code of Virginia as amended. Madame clerk, I would like to open this public hearing. Madam clerk, do we have anyone sign up to speak?

Yes. Lynn Wajno. Okay. Tammy Airheart. I spoke once. Is that enough? You You are allowed to speak on the public hearings as they are different and they're defined differently. So you can speak to each public hearing if you have comments, Germaine, to those topics. Pardon? Yes, sir. Please come up. We just need to make sure the comments stay focused on the purpose of the public hearing. You know where I'm from. You need to say it again. Okay.

Um, yeah. I I was listening to a lot of the suggestions that people made. Sir, can I get you just for the record state your name and address? Oh, it's I Oh, Len Wajno again, Chestnut Forest Drive, Hardy, Virginia. Thank you.

Um, yeah, I listen to a lot of the diligent people speak and uh, again, I I think they have uh wonderful suggestions. I I think that everything that someone does uh on another level, they're accountable for and it will come back to them. Everything we do, every thought we we uh we partake in has a consequence. Every decision we make, every action we we do has a consequence. Moral and ethical conditions are important. And um um again uh as far as education is concerned, me and my wife was were specialed teachers in Franklin County. We did homebound school. We taught geometry in all the subjects. and uh throwing money at a problem at the uh you know on a phys on the physical level you need certain uh heings you know certain physical building improvements that that can't be delayed uh but I think you should use local resources there there there are some very good local companies right here in Virginia I know you originally go into the bid system and then some somehow you changed your mind and then you went back to using is it a ab a

it's ABM? Yes. School.

You decided to use that. I I I think that was a mistake because they're they're out of this they're not they're not a resource of this area of Virginia. I think the money should stay here. I think that's extremely important. I know you had originally uh decided to go to the uh the bidding system but somehow you you changed your mind about that for for reasons that are unbeknown to me or maybe known to me. Um as far as education is concerned, we need dedicated teachers. We don't necessarily have to throw money at the problem because if you look at if you look at um at the educational system, I think different educational concepts should be used. Children should be known how to think. Uh they should be taught the truth in history. They they should to be taught the truth of economics. How this country is run economically and how all the corporate entities have been corrupted. In fact, every aspect of our society is has been corrupted and we're all trying to change that. It's very difficult, but I think that'll happen. Um uh my wife was teaching handicapped children, uh successfully, many words. And when she went to the special ed department and she said, "Would you like to me to teach you what I did?" And they said, "No." So that's why I'm saying throwing money at the educational system is not the solution. It's uh training teachers to teach from the heart and to use systems that are successful and to teach children how to think, how to analyze reality, how to analyze ideas, uh uh how to teach them responsibility, personal responsibility uh to their government and to themselves spiritually. So, uh,

basically, your time's up, sir. Thank you. Tammy Airheart pass. Okay. Becky Min. Okay. Bob Hehheart. Good evening, Mr. Heart. Hello. Hey, Pete. State your name and address for the record, please, sir.

Bob Airheart, Hardy, Virginia. Uh, I just want to say that how much I'm against these tax increases. Approximately two years ago, you pretty much doubled everybody's taxes with reevaluations. I bought here nine short years ago. My taxes have tripled three times. My paycheck hasn't tripled three times. And you people just keep spending money and investing ways to waste money. There's an end. We don't have anymore. And neither do you folks. You need to live with what we have. Thank you, sir. Can you give your have a specific address other than Hardy? Do you have a street address? Over 44 overlook. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. David Minn,

Robert Yupa.

Beginning. No. That's pretty clever. Pretty clever. Okay. If you'd state your name. If you'd state your name again. Robert Aayupa, 108 Teal Brook Drive. Thank you.

Rocky Mount, Virginia. Tealbrook Road. So, I made reference to an ostrich a while ago. And I just want to give you a little thumbnail sketch why I said that. In 1994, I retired from the wholesale meat business. And at that time, ostrich was a was a fad. So, I was sent to Ohio State University, uh, the probably the best agricultural school in the United States and I studied ostrich for a week. So, I'm pretty astute when it comes to ostrich. And I heard a comment recently and I've read things in notes where uh they mention because of inflation, you're going to have a 3% increase based on what you had. you're talking about a lot of money, $6 million or whatever it was. So, there's two things that I I want to point out. And there's a gentleman here that I respect very much and he used the word austerity. So, while in attacking the budget, not only do you have to cut costs and I think each supervisor, there's a lot of talent here tonight. Would you agree? Yes or no? supervisors. Yes. So maybe each supervisor like my supervisor in Blackwater on Tealbrook could come to me maybe three or four times a year and say, "Robert, what do you think?" And maybe invite other constituents and get feedback how to become creative and attacking the budget and how to cut costs. So in other words, the facts and figures I don't really care about. I what I care about is being creative and finding money, finding ways and meeting the needs of the students.

This uh we're very lucky to be in Franklin County. We came here, we bought our house uh the last day of August of 99. We moved here in 2000. We went to the Apple Festival in Booneville. And the first person I met was the sheriff's father. and he said, "Robert and Sue, welcome." And we've been welcomed ever since to Franklin County. Susan and I are blessed to live here. That being said, there's a lot of talent here, each supervisor, instead of just having a meeting like this, which a lot of complaints should go to their constituents and say, "We need help." And I think that would be a good place to start. And then I'll finish up my comments when I get to the meal tax. And I'll tell you real quick, I'm a master chef. I was in the wholesale meat business. So I kn I know a little bit about culinary and I'll talk about that in my next

Thank you very much. Thank you for listening. John Brazil, that's all who signed up.

Okay. I will uh at this juncture close this public hearing. I appreciate all of the speakers sharing your thoughts with us. Um, so I'm going to close the public hearing. Are there any comments from supervisors before we move on to the next public hearing? Okay, we will move on. I will open the public hearing on the proposed amendment to chapter 20, section 20-279, meals tax levy and rate of the Franklin County Code as advertised. Consider a proposed amendment to chapter 20 of the Franklin County Code to be amended as follows. Chapter 20, section 20-279 mills tax levy and rate. The proposed amendment would read, "There is hereby imposed and levied by the county on each person, a tax at the rate of 6% on the amount paid for food and beverages purchased from any food establishment, whether prepared in such food establishment or not, and whether consumed on the premises or not." So, Madame Clerk, you call your first speaker, please.

Don Greer. Thank you.

Hi again, Miss Greer. I'm going to ask you state your name and address again. I'm sorry. John Greer Phum Permanent Residence and Hardy.

Thank you. Mills tax. You're going to raise the mills tax, huh? You're going to raise the meals tax to do what? Double hire other companies to come in and do the same job that you've already hired other people to do. Or is it to to what are you going to benefit to the meals tax? We have given you a new plan. We have found the deficit in the budget by checks and balances in each one of the different departments. And now I'm telling you, as someone who has served the people in this county, you cannot do that. You know, there's a lot of taxes that are getting out of control. Meals tax, stay away from the food. We're a farm and a company. We don't need you messing with our food. We don't need you messing with our taxes. And just because the opportunity for a maximum amount of a tax increase is there does not give you the authority to do so. You have given us nothing on the increase of taxes that you've already done for the last three or four different increases for Franklin County. What have we gotten from it as a public? Better schools, more roads. Oh, maybe it's more festivals in that great big field that the county took and wasted our tax dollars on that you built a great big pavilion over under. Maybe we have all these new music festivals going on and maybe that's what No, we get nothing out of it. So, we have given you a way to work the budget that gives us the people a no tax by leaving our county alone right now and fixing the problems that you already have. And the food tax cannot happen. There are too many people in this county that are only eating one meal a day and you're going to drop that again. There are too many restaurants, hometown restaurants that won't be able to survive. There are food tents that won't be able to come into Franklin County and sell

food because it won't be affordable. But I tell you what, we'll hit those festivals in Pennsylvania and Patrick County. Guaranteed they'll get our tax benefits. The little bit that they have. They we will not continue to go with the raising of taxes with no return. And that's all you're doing is raising taxes, no return. Raise the food tax for what? to give you another employee to do your job. No. No. Deal is no. Nobody agrees with it. You've got a new plan for the budget. We highly suggest you look at it because the state is Thank you, TAMMY, Becky Minn,

Becky Min. Pass. David Minn. Okay. And Robert Aupa here. Here. We should have just put you on the front row. Start the clock. Don't start. No, we're not starting the clock. Okay. You know the rules. You know the rules. Robert Lewis Aupa. Thank you. Uh 108 Teal Brook Road, Rocky Mount, Virginia.

Thank you very much. Okay. Uh, tonight we we have some very sharp restaurant tours in the audience. Uh, one is the part owner of Arrington Enterprises. Anybody who knows Arrington Enterprises knows without a doubt it's the best restaurant group in Franklin County, maybe in all of Virginia. I'm from Rochester, New York. I was an executive chef there. Now I'm a master chef. A population in Rochester metropolitan is 1.3 million. There's not a group a restaurant in Rochester that is run with the precision of Arrington. If we increase the meal tax now, and I'm going to use the word timing. Timing is everything. If you increase the the meal tax, you're going to have less customers coming in and you're going to come out with the same income. It economically right now with everything going on in Franklin County, in the state of Virginia, in the world, it does not make sense. Your biggest voting block are seniors and they probably have the most disposable income. So to raise the tax right now and I'm saying this with with all charity in my heart would be totally stupid. And what I'm proposing because a lot of people are saying you know Rocky Mount is 6% increase it to 6% for Franklin County. I'm saying roll back the tax to 4% in Rocky Mount. That's what you

should do. and be creative and come up with other ways of raising money for what you need. Uh I'm very passionate about this and I I know a lot of people. I was in the chambers from Martinsville all the way to Lynchber and I feel it would be I happen to be raised Catholic. I feel would be a sin right now to raise t raise the tax for the restaurants and it would hurt the seniors and it would hurt all families. So right now if you could roll up just like Walmart, you go in there and you see a roll back sign, roll it back from 6% to 4% in Rocky Mount and follow suit and hold it as long as we can and be creative and come up other ways of raising the money you need. And first of all, you're not going to get any extra money by roll because you're gonna have less customers going in. And it doesn't make sense economically at all. So those are my words. There's no one else signed up. Okay. Very good. Thank you all so much for sharing your thoughts and concerns with us. I am going to close this public hearing. Uh that completes our three public hearings for the evening. Uh and um I would ask my colleagues if you have any uh remarks you'd like to make at this juncture. Um hearing none, I will entertain uh well, we will recess rather um to our April 21st, 2026 board of supervisors regular meeting next week at 3 p.m. And again, thank you all so much for taking the time to come and and talk with us. We very much appreciate it. Thank you. So you

Yes.