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Very few people spoke at Farmville’s public budget hearing Wednesday, just one asking questions and the other asking for more money for the rescue squad. The May 14 hearing is one of the requirements in the process, giving residents a chance to weigh in on what made it into the budget and what was cut out. 

The current proposed budget is for $43,367,489. That consists of $33,331,990 in the general fund; a total of $2,621,672 in the street maintenance fund; $3,176,458 in the water fund; $2,688,059 in the sewer fund; $1,159,745 in the transportation fund and $379,565 in the airport fund. Some of the main parts of this project include starting a renovation of the Farmville firehouse, using a loan to make a series of vehicle purchases and absorbing the impact of health insurance increases on staff. 

The tax rate is also going up. Currently, the real estate tax rate is set at 13 cents per $100 of assessed value. That increases to 22 cents when the new tax bills go out. So where does that put Farmville, in comparison with towns of similar size in Virginia? Crewe’s real estate tax rate is 30 cents. Brookneal is at 17, Blacksburg and South Boston are at 26 cents and South Hill stands at 31. 

‘Who determines the wants?’

That was what Gary Barton wanted to talk about. The Farmville resident spoke at the public hearing and said there needed to be a balance. 

“The town wants to raise taxes, the county wants to raise taxes and these are pretty tough times for a lot of people,” Barton said. “We have inflation, we have a lot of debt incurred from the last federal administration. I think (the U.S.) is what, $36, $37 trillion in debt? Who determines what the town really needs? Who decides what it will (cost) to keep up the streets and services provided? Who determines the wants?” 

The answer to that has been the town staff and town council, through public meetings and votes spread out over the past several months. Barton had also wanted opportunities for Farmville residents to give their opinion on the wants and needs. There have been public hearings set at every stretch of this budget season, from setting the tax rate to the point when council members decided what to cut. In each case, there was a period for public comments. 

The Farmville tax rate has moved around several times over the last 28 years. It stood at 14 cents per $100 of assessed value in 1997, then dropped to 10 cents in 2009, before rising to 12 cents in 2011. It bumped up to 13 cents in 2021. One argument made by the Farmville council majority was that setting the tax rate at 22 cents would not just address the $1.3 million shortfall and balance the upcoming budget, but it would allow the town to keep some projects moving forward. 

Rescue Squad asks for more

Another part of Wednesday’s public hearing involved a representative from the Prince Edward Rescue Squad asking for some of their funding to be restored. Carol Broadwater explained that out of 3,563 calls for service in 2024, 1799 were in Farmville. 

“These numbers definitively illustrate that over half of our responses are within the town,” Broadwater said. “These figures underscore the untenable reality of our agency’s profound and frequent engagement in safeguarding the health and well being of our community. With the reduction of the town’s prior commitment of $50,000 for vehicle maintenance that has been reduced without any communication to our agency, it is concerning that now a $5,000 reduction in a crucial fuel line item and it makes it difficult for our agency to budget appropriately.”

Broadwater argued that as Farmville has grown, the role Prince Edward Rescue plays in emergency medical response has also grown. But, she argued, the group needs more funding than what Farmville is currently offering. 

“The support we require to sustain and further develop our mission and execute a standard level of service is not currently reflected in the town’s proposed budget,” Broadwater said. 

The money wasn’t spent 

The reason the town scaled back some of the funding, Town Manager Scott Davis said, was because it wasn’t used. And as part of the work to address the budget shortfall, town staff looked at areas where funds hadn’t been spent. 

“We allocate a set amount of money for materials,” Davis said, explaining that the town covers things like needed repairs for vehicles, oil changes, transmission fluid and maintenance done around the Rescue Squad building. “Let’s say we budget $30,000 for materials. If we’re not spending that, then we reduce it instead of it just sitting there and we can reallocate it to things that were needed.” 

Davis then went year by year as to how much money was budgeted by the town and how much ended up being spent on materials and maintenance for the rescue squad. 

“In fiscal year 2020, the total spent was $17,226,” Davis said. “They were appropriated a lot more than that. (The rest) wasn’t used. In fiscal year 2021, $12,161 was spent. We appropriated more than that. In 2022, we appropriated more but they only spent $14,620 in materials.” 

Davis said in fiscal year 2023, the group spent $22,390. That year, Farmville staff couldn’t do the work on the vehicle needing repair, so the town paid for it to be taken to East End Motor in town. In fiscal year 2024, $13,960 was spent on materials and maintenance. Davis pointed out that so far in this fiscal year, the town has spent $21,918 to help the rescue squad, including replacing a transmission on one of the vehicles for $6,700. 

“The only time those numbers jump is if there is a major issue with an apparatus,” Davis said. 

If the need, for maintenance, oil changes, or major repairs exceeds what’s been budgeted for the coming fiscal year, all the rescue squad would need to do is come and let the town staff know. 

“If it was reasonable and we had the funds to move, we would do that and come to you and say there’s been some issue we need to allocate (money) to cover,” Davis said. “But nothing has been over $25,000 (per year) to this date.” 

Additional funds for the rescue squad 

Davis also pointed out that in fiscal year 2020, the town, along with Longwood University and Hampden-Sydney agreed to each provide $30,000 to the rescue squad for a three-year period. 

“We said we would fund them for three years, to get them to a point where they could hire an executive director and be able to be sustainable,” Davis said. 

The town did that in fiscal years 2020, 2021 and 2022. Before 2020, the town was providing funding for fuel and maintenance of the property. In fiscal year 2023, the rescue squad had asked for more help and the town agreed to give another $15,000, in addition to the maintenance and repair funding.