by Jackie Nunnery
HEATHSVILLE—Supervisors got a hint of the challenges facing them and the budget during a Thursday, June 6, public hearing as residents spoke out against the proposed $50,513,252 budget based on a proposed real estate tax rate of $0.69 per $100 of assessed value, a 13% increase.
Heathsville resident Karen Pica suggested “judicious cuts,” specifically to the school division’s portion of the budget. Pica addressed the $1.7 million increase in local funding, which director of finance Tara Booth previously explained was mostly due to the composite index increasing from .6971 to 0.7672 and accounted for $1.5 million of the increase.
Pica said, “In 2022, when the composite index was .6971, the schools budgeted $3.7 million from the state,” adding that this year, with the higher index for the 2025 budget, they budgeted $3.5 million. “That’s a difference of $200,000 not $1.7 million. Add in the money that’s necessary to support our hardworking teachers, give them raises, make sure they have health insurance, another $300,000. The school budget would need to increase at a minimum maybe $500,000. Lucky for us….
