Summary of 2023-24 Botetourt County Budget

This Budget includes the school budget. Please note the state budget has yet to be approved by the General Assembly so this is pending til the state budget is approved–Editor

Taxes will not increase for fiscal year 2024 in Botetourt County. The Board of Supervisors held a public hearing on June 15, 2023 at the Botetourt County Administration Center on the proposed fiscal year 2024 budget and tax rate and did not advertise an increase in taxes. The Board will vote on the budget and taxes at the June 27, 2023 meeting, held at the same location in the Botetourt Center at Greenfield in Amsterdam.

Tax rates remain $1.80 per $100 assessed value for machinery and tools, $0.79 per $100 assessed value for mobile homes, $2.71 per $100 assessed value for personal property, $0.79 per $100 assessed value for real estate, $2.71 per $100 assessed value for motor homes, and $0.99 per $100 assessed value for wind farms.

While taxes remain the same, the county is planning to increase fees for some services to shift the burden from all taxpayers to the users of the service, according to information presented to the Board.

The county budget for fiscal year 2024 is $129,943,034. Once the budget is approved, the county would allocate $74,740,281 to the Botetourt County Public Schools. The remaining funds would be for local government expenditures.

The budget has remained flexible because the Virginia state legislature has yet to pass a budget, meaning allocations from state funding, especially for schools, remains an unknown.

Income/Revenue

The county in the upcoming fiscal year would no longer receive extra revenue from the Federal American Rescue Plan Act. This decrease of more than $6 million would be offset somewhat by an increase in local revenue of $3.5 million. In all, the revenue for the county for 2024-2025 is expected to be 2.9 percent lower than the current fiscal year. (Editors note: figures are rounded for ease of reading for the remainder of this article.)

County officials expect real estate tax revenue to increase less than 1 percent over last year. Additional income is anticipated from penalties and interest, permits, fees, and licenses, and other areas such as charges for services and sales taxes.

Fee increases would be felt by developers and businesses, as the county would be expecting a 171 percent increase in zoning fees, an 89 percent increase in zoning/subdivision fees, a 40 percent increase in building permits, and a 76 percent increase in zoning usage and sign permits. Zoning and site plan review costs would increase by 213 percent.

Other fee increases include the landfill, which would go up 146 percent, recreation fees, which would increase 27 percent, and collection fees at the Treasurer’s Office, which would increase 56 percent.

The total amount of local revenue would be just over $67 million. State revenues, if the state passes a budget, would be about $12.3 million, and federal revenue would be about $1.3 million.

Expenditures

Aside from the public school system, funds amounting to approximately $54.7 million would be spent on:

a) general government expenses ($6.1 million)

b) the judiciary system ($1.8 million

c) public safety ($24.4 million)

d) health and welfare ($3.6 million)

e. public works ($3.2 million)

f) parks, recreation and culture ($2.5 million)

g) community development ($2.2 million)

h) debt service and capital improvement projects ($10.9 million).

In the line-item breakdown, the county would spend just under $234,000 on the Board of Supervisors, with the majority of that funding going toward professional (legal) services. The county administration office budget would be $793,000, and human resources would be $449,000.

Technology services would receive $1.9 million, the sheriff’s department would receive $6.9 million, and dispatch services would receive $1.5 million. Fire and EMS would receive $8.3 million, with $7.6 million of that going toward paid firefighter/EMS positions and much of the remainder going toward equipment purchases.

Parks and recreation would receive about $697,000, the Botetourt Sports Complex would receive $414,000, and the library system would receive $1.4 million. About $512,000 would be divided up among 22 different community organizations that serve the county in arts, health, or additional education opportunities.

Additional information, including a line-item budget breakdown, is available at Financial Services & Budget | Botetourt County, VA (botetourtva.gov).

–The Botetourt Bee, Cathy Benson, Editor File photo Botetourt county Administration Center at Greenfield