The Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors voted 7-1 to accept a refund of more than $4,800 from the Commonwealth Regional Council (CRC) during the board’s Jan. 14 meeting.

Prospect District Supervisor J. David Emert, who represents the county on the CRC, was the lone vote in opposition.

CRC Executive Director Melody Foster explained to the board that back in 2017, the council updated its membership dues policy and made it a goal that if the council’s cash fund balance exceeded the balance of $500,000, then it would return that excess in funds to the CRC’s member localities.

“I’m happy to say our audit that was completed on June 30th reported a cash fund balance of $524,153,” Foster said. “So, we are returning $4,830.60 to each of the member localities.”

She said if any locality chooses to reinvest this amount to the CRC, they are certainly welcome to.

She said one locality so far had chosen to do that, referring to Buckingham County, and one other county is waiting to see what everybody else is going to do.

“I would recommend that the board accept the refund, and that way we would have a continuous, even amount that we would be providing for the CRC,” Prince Edward County Administrator Wade Bartlett said.  “We don’t have any grants at this moment that they’re administering for the county.”