Surry County supervisors voted 3-1 on May 8 to adopt a $62.1 million budget for fiscal 2025-26, which will begin July 1.

The total reflects an 11.5% decrease from the $70.2 million budget for the current year. The majority of that decrease is tied to the county’s capital improvements plan for one-time expenses, which dropped by $13 million, or 91.7%, from the $14.2 million budgeted last year.

Last year’s capital improvements plan included $10 million for a public swimming pool, amphitheater and banquet hall at the county’s parks and recreation center at Enos Farm Drive. That project has since been scrapped in favor of a proposal to borrow up to $24 million to fund the construction of a YMCA adjacent to the parks and recreation center. Surry has a signed letter of intent from the YMCA of the Virginia Peninsulas but would need to separately vote on taking on the new debt following a state-mandated public hearing, which likely won’t occur until June.

Surry District Supervisor Tim Calhoun cast the dissenting vote on the budget. A separate vote to adopt no changes to the county’s tax rates except for a lower car tax rate passed unanimously The board had previously voted 3-1, with Calhoun dissenting, on April 10 to readopt a real estate tax rate of 71 cents per $100 in assessed value and to reduce the car tax rate from $4 per $100 to $3.75. The unchanged real estate rate will still generate an additional $1 million in revenue due to higher assessed values.

Under the adopted budget, Surry County Public Schools’ operating fund totals $18.5 million, up $926,425, or 5.3%, from just under $17.6 million budgeted for the current year. This reflects a $135,000 increase in the county’s contribution to its school system beyond the $448,000 increase County Administrator Melissa Rollins had proposed on April 10, and was accomplished by reallocating $135,000 from the county’s capital improvements plan by purchasing one fewer school buses. The county contribution to its school system totaled $13.4 million last year.

The April 10 budget draft had estimated applying the county’s 71-cent real estate tax rate to new real estate valuations completed earlier this year would generate just under $9.6 million in real estate tax revenue in 2025-26, up $1 million, or 11.9%, from the current year. It would also generate $17.8 million in public service corporation tax revenue, up $2 million, or 12.7%, from the $15.8 million budgeted for fiscal year 2024-25. The final budget calls for $183,000 less in car tax revenue from the lowered rate.

The final budget allocates $879,848 to a “revenue stabilization fund” to mitigate future sudden revenue losses and nearly $19.5 million  in transfers from the general fund to other funds and to capital improvement reserves, up $1.6 million or 9.3% from the prior year.

Funded capital projects include a $129,903 renovation of the Surry Volunteer Fire Department, $419,000 for a tax billing software upgrade, $112,934 for upgraded body-worn cameras and $147,235 for new vehicles for the Surry County Sheriff’s Office.