Council approves $5.68 million FY26 budget amendment amid debate over school land purchase

The Waynesboro City Council held a public hearing and voted to adopt an ordinance appropriating $5,675,774 to amend the FY26 budget.

Finance staff explained the amendment includes two main components: approximately $4,134,679 of encumbrance roll‑forwards (purchase orders for work not completed before fiscal year close) and about $1,541,000 in grants, donations and fund‑balance uses. Staff said school board appropriations account for roughly $1,131,000 of that latter total, broken down into about $540,000 for grants and approximately $591,000 for insurance reserves and site acquisitions.

Council discussion focused on whether to separate a school land acquisition (staff later identified a site acquisition price of $495,000) from the omnibus ordinance so the council could address it after a joint session with the school board. Councilman Slope said he was not comfortable appropriating the land acquisition before the scheduled joint discussion with the school board; other members said timing constraints made separating the item difficult. Staff offered to break the ordinance into components (encumbrances, insurance roll‑forwards and grants) or table the land acquisition for future consideration.

After discussion the council voted to adopt the ordinance. The transcript records the voice vote as having passed with a three‑to‑one split.