Accomack’s FY 2023 Budget Includes Funding for More EMS Positions

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By Carol Vaughn —

Accomack County officials got a first look Monday at the proposed county budget for Fiscal Year 2023.

Accomack County Administrator Mike Mason presented to the Board of Supervisors a $82.1 million budget, a 26.6% increase over this year.

A 15.1% increase on the operations side is due primarily to requests for EMS staff for three stations, Mason said.

Capital increases result largely from the cost of a new regional 9-1-1 communication system.

The budget includes no real estate or personal property tax rate increase and no increase in the landfill tipping fee.

Still, the county will have to advertise the rate because there is expected to be an increase in tax revenue due to the recent real estate assessment.

State law requires notice if increased property values result in a tax levy more than 1% greater than the previous year.

Property values are anticipated to increase nearly 9% as result of the 2022 reassessment.
Keeping the tax rate the same, with the increased values, would help pay for debt service associated with a $7.4 million bond issuance to finance the county’s share of a regional 9-1-1 radio infrastructure project; a required local match of a 5% teacher pay raise included in the outgoing governor’s state budget; the cost of additional EMS staff (12 fulltime equivalents) approved this year for Greenbackville Volunteer Fire and Rescue Station; part of the cost for addtional EMS staff in Saxis, Melfa, and Tangier; and new positions in other departments.

The budget includes $65.6 million for operations, around $5 million in pay-as-you-go capital expenditures, and nearly $7.4 million in capital expenditures to be financed, along with around $4 million for debt service.

Personal property tax revenue also is projected to increase, largely as result of the increased value of used vehicles, according to Mason.

Additionally, the county is expected to see an increase in sales tax and transient occupancy tax revenue next year — although Mason cautioned revenue could be affected significantly if a state push to eliminate the sales tax on groceries comes to fruition.

More than 39% of local tax dollars go towards education in the proposed budget, which increases funding to public schools 9.2%, or $1.8 million, based on a longstanding revenue share formula.

Additionally, an increasing percentage of tax dollars in recent years has gone to public safety.

“The single largest increase is public safety,” Mason said.

As proposed, 13% of local tax dollars go to emergency medical services, 4% go to firefighting, 5.6% go to law enforcement and the jail, and 4.5% go towards other public safety expenditures.

With new requests from departments and agencies totaling $23 million, the county, due to revenue growth, is expected to have around $3.8 million in net new funds available to meet recurring operational or capital needs.

Another $4.9 million is in the unassigned fund balance and available for one-time initiatives.

One priority in developing the budget was to increase the number of full-time equivalent positions in certain departments in order to meet the current workload and desired service levels, Mason said.

“It’s aimed at just maintaining what we already do. The workload continues to increase,” he said, mentioning reporting required by the federal government for COVID-19 relief funds as one example.

The budget increases staff by 25 fulltime equivalents, including four in law enforcement; one mandated position in the Commonwealth’s Attorney office; 16 for EMS staff in Melfa, Tangier, and Saxis; one in the finance department; two in the building and zoning department, one in economic development; and one in public works; along with a freeze on two vacant positions in ditch maintenance and procurement.

Mason spoke about the need for additional employees in several departments, including building and zoning, where the county issued 1,090 building permits in 2021, roughly 300 more than the prior year.

“We’re also seeing some very large projects coming down the pipeline that are going to occupy the time of our building inspectors quite significantly,” Mason said.

Four additional employees are needed in the Sheriff’s Office because of “a significant increase in workload, the severity of crime,” Mason said.

A projected increase in rocket launches from Wallops, with 25 to 30 a year projected by 2030 — around three times the current number — also will result in a need for more staff, Mason said.

“There’s going to be more activity. We’re getting a significant increase in — I’ll just refer to them as ‘reach outs’ — from different companies regarding property here in Accomack County, particularly up at the northern end,” Mason said, adding, “Those conversations are happening more frequently and they require time — and as they continue to multiply, time is a problem. We need more FTEs. We need a designated economic development person to … meet frequently, shepherd these projects, and help bring them to fruition.”

Mason included in the budget a plan to pay for additional EMS staff in Saxis, Melfa, and Tangier, but said he does not support that initiative.

The plan includes implementing a county cigarette tax of 40 cents per pack to help pay for EMS staffing.

The tax could generate $422,000 a year, which Mason said is a conservative estimate.
Still, Mason recommended the board continue to use its established metric to determine where EMS staff are needed. That metric says acceptable response time for EMS calls is 20 minutes or less 90% of the time.

Other than Greenbackville, where the situation was addressed this year, no stations are not meeting that metric, he said.

Adding staff to the three stations, in addition to staff approved for Greenbackville, likely will mean a total of 27 new fulltime equivalent EMS positions in a two-year period, resulting in fewer resources for other county services, according to Mason.

It also would result in Accomack having the highest per capita spending on EMS of any of the 70 Virginia counties with a population under 50,000.

Accomack already had the fourth highest per capita spending before personnel were added in Greenbackville, Mason said.

Of $5 million in cash capital spending in the budget, $2.5 million will go to the county’s share to build a new administration facility for the school district, which will include public meeting space for use by both the schools and the county.

Mason noted if a federal grant is awarded to cover the cost of the 9-1-1 communication system, that will affect the budget, as debt service for the county’s share otherwise will result in an estimated cost of $290,109 the first year and $773,660 per year after that.

A decision is pending on the federal funding.

In order to begin responding to the impact of future minimum wage increases on county pay and the ability to compete for and retain employees, Mason proposed to include in the budget $55,000 to initiate pay band restructuring services.

He said 25% of Accomack’s pay levels have hourly rates lower than the projected Virginia minimum wage for 2026. The lowest will need a 39.4% increase by then to meet the minimum wage mandate.

Additionally, the mandated increase at lower levels will necessitate increases in higher-paid positions, such as those employees’ supervisors, Mason said.

The budget also allocates $850,000 to the rainy day fund, in an attempt to reach the goal of reaching 16.7% of revenue by 2026.

Accomack’s tax rate ranks 14th (highest to lowest) among a peer group of 19 similar counties. The last real estate tax rate hike, in 2016, went to expand EMS services.
There has been no increase to support other county services since 2014.

Accomack’s real estate tax rate, 61 cents per $100 of assessed value, is significantly lower than Northampton’s rate, 83.5 cents, and Worcester County, Md.’s, rate, 84.5 cents.

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