Supervisors and residents debate rising assessments, budget options and use of facilities reserve

Resident Matthew Nash told supervisors that his assessment climbed sharply and asked whether the county plans to cut spending rather than raise taxes to close an approximately $6 million shortfall. County leaders responded that the county-wide average assessment increase was about 16.5%, that equalization of tax rates will shift outcomes for some taxpayers, and that the budget process will consider a mix of revenue sources (personal property, meals taxes, boats, cigarettes) and spending reductions.

Supervisors stressed balancing services and tax rates. Dr. Leming and others said they want to minimize real-estate tax increases and noted that the county’s reassessment cadence has changed over time; the board previously advocated for a three-year reassessment cycle to reduce the shock of large one-time changes. Staff noted technical constraints to annual reassessments in some parts of the county that lack adequate sales data.

On capital maintenance, finance staff and a supervisor explained the county’s Facilities Maintenance, Repair and Replacement (FMRR) reserve: it has accumulated to about $1.5 million over roughly 11 years because budgeted projects sometimes come in under estimate, allowing the unspent amounts to accumulate. Current year requests total just under $1.1 million in projects. County staff said routine preventive maintenance is handled in house when feasible, but the county lacks capacity to execute large, $3M-scale projects without contracting and additional project-management and engineering resources.

A supervisor suggested the school division could dedicate residual fund balance to its own FMRR needs; staff said school capital requests often come to the county when they might instead be funded from school-held FMRR reserves. Officials said they will study FMRR project prioritization, staff capacity and whether any of the reserve can be applied to near-term projects without undermining contingency cushions.