Our financial resources in Spotsylvania will always be constrained. We must expend those resources efficiently and equitably across all County departments to ensure we maintain levels of service Spotsylvanians expect.
The budget process currently does not support equitable consideration of all departments because new County revenue is allocated before the School Division’s budget is presented. A more equitable path would be to stop allocating millions of dollars of anticipated new revenue outside of the budget process. This has proven to be a difficult habit for the Board of Supervisors to break. It has occurred multiple times since the Fiscal Year 2022 County budget was adopted. Some of these budget decisions are driven by developments that require action, which may not have been required if the Board of Supervisors were more attentive to gathering issues.
The expenditures of our limited resources should be driven largely by market conditions and the current state of county staff (e.g.: Department demands, staff turnover, vacancy rates). Employee compensation is not the only factor that causes an individual to seek new employment, but it will be an increasingly important one, if Spotsylvania does not keep up with the demands of our growing community.
If this is done effectively, it should reduce the Board of Supervisors need to make budget adjustments outside the process. As seen in recent years, when the Board of Supervisors become too passive it leads to Departments falling behind competitive market salaries, demonstrated by the recent large Public Safety salary increases along with a smaller one for Department of Social Services employees this year.