Wise County residents once again hammered county supervisors last week for increasing their tax bills without giving details about how they intend to cut spending by millions of dollars.
Audience members at Thursday’s meeting were angry enough to verbally thrash the county board over a routine procedural budget action that the crowd mistook for an irresponsible spending decision.
On March 5, supervisors voted 6-1 to keep the real estate tax rate at 69 cents per $100 of value, which will boost income by about $5.4 million thanks to a property reassessment. The board majority said it was necessary to help dig the county out of a multimillion-dollar gap between income and spending. County Treasurer Delores Smith said supervisors still needed to slash about $446,000 between then and June 30 to get through the current fiscal year — and must cut upwards of $5 million to have a realistic budget in fiscal 2026-27.
The board will meet again at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the county administrator’s conference room to discuss budget-cutting options.
Reasons for anger — both real and by mistake
Six supervisors convened Thursday night for a nearly five-hour meeting. Chair J.H. Rivers said members Tim Boardwine and Randy Carter were absent because of illness.
Audience members lit into the board early on during a public hearing on increasing the real estate tax exemption for elderly and disabled people from $200 to $300.
This would be good for the people who benefit from it, but how does it help the county cut spending, Big Stone Gap firefighter Daniel Rollins asked. He wants to help the elderly and disabled, he said, “but you’re putting the cart before the horse.”
Former Pound Town Council member Terry Short agreed, adding that this increase won’t go very far to help his elderly parents pay their property tax bill. Short asserted that the property reassessment that took effect in January was flawed, raising the values of real estate in his family illogically without evidence to justify the increases. It’s clear that appraisers didn’t come look at the properties, he said.
The reassessment raised real estate values to the point that supervisors would have had to lower the tax rate to 55 cents for tax bills to stay roughly the same. The average countywide value increase for residential properties was 35%. This was the first reassessment since 2022.
The anger continued during a public hearing on, as the agenda stated, a “proposed 1% increase” to the current county budget.
Short asked where that money would come from and who would decide on spending cuts to cover the increase. He said he had been examining county financial documents and concluded that the numbers plugged into the budget “did not come from your books.”
“Have you lost your minds?” Rollins asked. He noted that in February, he had asked supervisors to resign over failing to realize that county administration had created a budget crisis. Rollins turned to the audience and urged people to vote the board out of office.
Walter Crouse, a retired former professor at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, said supervisors had it backward and should be discussing spending cuts.
Karen Mullins, the county attorney and interim county administrator, interjected to explain that this is a $2 million-plus budget increase representing nearly $1.99 million in grants received, with other funds coming from transient occupancy tax collections, asset forfeitures, insurance recoveries and other fee collections. State law requires a public hearing when such received funds increase the budget by more than 1%, she noted, adding that the hearing’s purpose was advertised in the local newspaper and on the county’s website.
Rollins apologized for his outburst, but said the purpose should have been explained up front: “Who gets a newspaper anymore?”
During the general public comment period, resident Sharon Fisher noted that on March 5, Rivers said he could not answer how the county got deep into a budget deficit.
Is it cannot or will not? Fisher asked.
Wise resident Kathy Selvage said it has become clear that supervisors didn’t have a good grasp on the status of the budget and income details. The county needs to cut spending in the same amount as the extra reassessment revenue and should look for new income sources, she said.
Last year, the county used a bond to borrow millions of dollars for courthouse office improvements, Selvage noted. She questioned whether any board members have ever been responsible for managing a large budget.
The courthouse upgrade effort was led by former County Administrator Mike Hatfield, who stepped down in December 2025 and retired.
Short said the county budget increased about $30 million between fiscal 2014-15 and fiscal 2024-25, yet supervisors are wondering how they got here. The county has been using reserve funds, but the well is dry, he said.
Indeed, Smith, the county treasurer, has said repeatedly that supervisors depended on reserve funds and American Rescue Plan Act special funding to make ends meet instead of cutting spending as she advised. According to Smith, her warnings went unheeded for several years.
Supervisor Fred Luntsford, who is also the Appalachia town manager, said the board is working diligently toward spending cuts. They will be painful, he said, asking for citizens’ understanding and patience.
Supervisor Rusty Peters — who opposed keeping the tax rate the same — noted that unlike most fellow board members, he has only been in office for two years. He asked citizens to stop trashing him on social media, saying he seeks answers just as they do.
Peters said he and Boardwine will hold a town hall for District Four residents March 24 at 6 p.m. in the Wise Fire Department bingo hall.
Supervisor Steve Bates — who for years advocated raising property tax rates by 1 penny annually — said board members “should never say we don’t know how we got here, because we do.”
Rivers, who has served on the board for decades, thanked residents for speaking out and acknowledged that supervisors must work better at communicating concerns and on policy matters. He said he remains at a loss to explain the county’s budget woes, adding that supervisors didn’t see them coming soon enough.
Later, the board entered a roughly two-hour closed meeting to discuss investment of public funds, legal matters and personnel.
After returning to open session, Mullins said county officials are examining every department in search of cost cuts. They are reviewing every county-funded job, with many identified for possible elimination.
Other spending cuts could affect everything from community centers and trash convenience centers to support for fire and rescue agencies, Mullins acknowledged.
She suggested scheduling a marathon session to meet with department heads and discuss cost-cutting options. The board agreed to convene Wednesday morning.