As budget processes near completion across the valley, multiple localities will adopt, or begin the process of adopting, their budgets during meetings this week. There is news, from another tight budget year in Roanoke, to a warning from Roanoke County’s administrator to a potential tax rate decrease in Salem.
Here’s a look:
Roanoke County
The county board of supervisors will hold its second public hearing on its fiscal year 2027 budget on Tuesday and is set to take the first of two votes on the proposal. The county administrator said the county is at a “crossroads” — while it’s not in financial trouble yet, its current fiscal model is not sustainable long-term.
The proposed budget is about $285 million, an increase of about $13 million over the prior year.
The county is not recommending any changes to the real estate tax rate, which will remain at $1.03 per $100 of assessed value after being reduced each year for the prior three years.
The budget includes a 3% cost-of-living increase for all full- and part-time non-public safety employees and increases in public safety step plan salaries.
The county is recommending a $3 million reduction for the county’s schools in the upcoming year, which makes the total local funding for the schools almost $97 million in the coming year.
County Administrator Richard Caywood said a reduction in the Local Composite Index, or the measure of what Virginia determines is the locality’s ability to pay for public education, resulted in an additional $2.6 million for the school division, which Caywood said almost offsets that reduction in the formula transfer that is recommended.
Caywood noted that school enrollment has decreased by 12.8% since 2008, while the county’s population has increased by 7.6%.
The county also recommended increasing the contingency fund by $71,000 due to “uncertainties in the economy,” Caywood said. “I’ve got a lot of concern over our revenue estimates, and so we definitely need to have that in the base budget this year.”
Caywood said during that meeting that the county is at a “crossroads.” The county’s current financial trajectory is not sustainable in the future, he said, especially due to long-term capital and heavy fleet needs.
To maintain a fleet of the county’s size, Caywood said, the county should be investing $5 million annually. Currently, the county is investing less than $1 million per year, he said.
“What that means is that at some point in the future we won’t be able to collect all of our trash because we have too few trash trucks that we can put on the road,” Caywood said, and noted some other potential consequences. “We know for sure that day is coming.”
He presented four choices that the county may consider in the future: raising tax rates, reducing the county’s government and limiting services, modifying the county’s financial arrangement with its school division, or some combination of those choices.
Tuesday’s meeting starts at 2 p.m. at the county administration building, 5204 Bernard Drive S.W. The board is scheduled to take a final budget vote on May 26.
Salem
The city council will hold a budget work session and consider the first reading of its fiscal year 2027 budget during afternoon and evening sessions on Monday.
The budget totals about $119 million, which is about a quarter of a percent decrease from the fiscal year 2026 budget.
Salem has proposed dropping its real estate tax rate by two cents. The current rate in Salem is $1.18 per $100 of assessed value.
Salem also dropped its real estate tax rate by the same two pennies during its last budget cycle. City spokesman Mike Stevens said the council and staff felt another reduction was doable despite increasing expenses.
The budget also includes a cost of living adjustment of up to 4% for city employees who are eligible, according to Salem’s pay scale.
Salem’s schools would receive an increase in funding of about $600,000 in local funds. Funding is also allocated for a number of capital projects, including stormwater projects, needs at the civic center, paving and reconstruction and purchases of garbage and dump trucks.
Monday’s 6:30 p.m. meeting will be held at city hall, 114 N. Broad St. The council is scheduled to approve its final budget on May 26.
Roanoke
The city council will approve its final budget Monday, which would be the second straight year of major cuts for city staff and projects. The proposed budget is $421.5 million, which is an increase of about 3% from the current fiscal year.
The city’s finance staff proposed removing $50.4 million in projects from the city’s capital improvement program, which include expanding the Belmont Branch Library, completing park projects, renovating the Fishburn Mansion and rehabilitating the Mill Mountain Star.
Raises for city employees would be dropped from 3% to 2%. Trinity Kaseke, the city’s budget manager, said last week during a budget study that all employees will be paid a minimum of $42,000 per year beginning July 1, which completes a phased effort that the city began last year.
Some capital improvement projects removed from the budget may be added back, using a total of $21.5 million that is available to the city at this point, from a variety of sources: $12.5 million from the schools’ general fund balance, $6.2 million from the schools’ capital fund balance, $2 million set aside for the Riverdale redevelopment project payments, and $797,500 from an E-911 unit project.
The council, during a budget study last week, discussed using that funding for the Fire Station #2 project on Williamson Road, the Belmont Library expansion or parks and recreation projects.
Kaseke said the city will also look into using ARPA funding for some of these items. Turner said during the budget study that the city is trying to work out exactly how much ARPA funding it has available at this point, in order to spend the money by the Dec. 31 deadline. All ARPA funding must remain within projects that the city committed the funding to in 2024.
Monday’s 2 p.m. meeting will be held at the municipal building, 215 Church Ave. S.W.
