The proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 was presented April 26, 2023. Some of the highlights of the budget, which runs from July 1, 2023 until June 30, 2024, include: 

• No tax or rate increases
• A general fund of $79,661,570 
• Increases in funding for education and public safety (adding 10 new School Resource Officer Positions for Elementary Schools)
• Uses just 16% of the general fund for general government services, which includes every department that doesn't fit into health and human services or public safety.

County leadership had 10 priorities for this budget:
• Utilize realistic revenue forecasts
• No tax rate increases
• Maintain a strong fund balance 
• Provide adequate local school funding
• Keep pace with inflation in operational costs
• Fund immediate capital needs
• Stay on track with Jail project timeline
• Fund vital County positions
• Provide adequate employee compensation
• Establish a new 1% School Sales Tax Fund

General Fund Expenditures 
Approximately 60% of the County's General Fund is allocated for two categories: justice and public safety (32%), and education (28%). The remaining categories are general government (16%), debt service (11%), human and health services (11%), and non-departmental (3%). With increases in education and public safety funding, this breakdown is mostly similar to the FY 2023 budget. 

Under the proposed budget, Pittsylvania County's local contribution to Pittsylvania County Schools will be just under $22.1 million; a 4.7% increase from FY 2023.

The General Fund includes $8.5 million in obligated debt payments, which are primarily for the middle and high School bonds from the mid-2000's. (Any financing payments related to solid waste, which are covered with revenue from contracts, would be included under the Solid Waste Enterprise fund.)

Pittsylvania County continues to experience the impacts of inflation, as operational expenses are increasing significantly. For example, this budget reflects a 31% jump in fuel prices, the most significant operational expense increase. 

Recruitment and retention of quality employees continues to be a problem for the County. As such, this budget proposes a 5% Cost of Living (COLA) increase for all County employees who follow the County’s Personnel Plan as well as employees of our 5 Constitutional Officers. 

General Fund Revenues 
In terms of revenues for the General Fund, approximately 37% of the County's revenue comes from real estate tax, 29% comes from State funds, another 16% comes from personal property taxes, and 13% comes from other local taxes and fees. The remaining 2% of the County's General Fund revenues come from Merchant's Capital/Machinery and Tools. 

This budget includes no tax rate increases. The proposed rates for FY 24 are as follows: 

• Real Estate: 62¢ per every $100 in assessed value
• Mobile homes: 62¢ per every $100 in assessed value
• Machinery & Tools: $4.50 per $100 of assessed value at 10% of original cost
• Merchant Tax: $2.75 per $100
• Personal Property Tax: $9.00 per $100 of assessed value, 30% of market value.

The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors voted at their March 2022 meeting to invalidate the County’s reassessment, which means that the values being utilized for real estate taxes are from the 2018 reassessment. A new reassessment is currently underway by Pearson’s Appraisal Services. Pearson’s began work in July 2022 and were tasked with appraising 1) a backlog of building permits since 2019, 2) newly discovered buildings, and 3) new construction that occurred in 2023. Because of the hard work of the appraisal firm, we added approximately $165.8M in Real Estate Value to the tax rolls equating to roughly $1M in new tax revenue. The new reassessment will become effective on January 1, 2024. 

The proposed FY 2024 budget does realize revenue growth of $1,289,208, due largely to inflation. Some of the major increases due to inflation occurred in Local Sales Tax ($429,520), Meals Tax ($50,330), and Personal Property ($468,145). This growth along with the retirement of approximately $1.3M in debt helped cover the upcoming year’s expenses with the County available resources. As such, no General Fund Balance was used to balance this budget.

As of June 30, 2022, the County's Unassigned Fund Balance stood at a healthy $34,344,071. Unassigned fund balance is a good indicator of overall health for a local government, and a government the size of Pittsylvania County should have a balance of approximately 20% of annual operating costs. The current unassigned balance is more than double that minimum recommendation. 

Other Funds:

Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund

The proposed FY2024 Water & Sewer budget totals $4.8M for Water and Sewer services. This is an increase over the last fiscal year in the amount of $1.8M. Increased revenues are the contributing factor to this budgetary jump. Two factors attributed to this increase: implementing new water and sewer rates that became effective January 1, 2023, and connecting 2 large water/sewer industries to the Counties’ water/sewer service. This increased funding will allow the County to build water/sewer reserves to cover future water/sewer infrastructure needs in the County.

Solid Waste and Capital 

The County's Solid Waste/Landfill Fund includes a budget of $8. million. While the solid waste fee pays for the majority of the operating budget, revenue from outside contracts that total more than $1.785 million annually are funding the financing for the development of three new convenience centers and the recent development of a new cell at the landfill. With a contribution of $668,837, the Public Works Department will also have a landfill reserve fund for the first time in many years.  

While there are a variety of upcoming capital projects, this budget only funds the most pressing, immediate needs. This includes $300,000 for the purchase of a new fire truck and brush truck for two volunteer agencies, $105,000 for a Public Safety ambulance, and $35,000 for upgrades to the County's server networks. 

The County also allocated approximately $52,000 for a Community-Based Corrections Plan, a study that the Virginia Department of Corrections requires before providing 25% of construction funding for a new jail. Since the current jail is failing mechanically and vastly overcrowded, the County is taking steps to have a new jail operational by 2026.