Notes and Votes May 7

Mayor Schick reported the Westmoreland Little League Association and the Colonial Beach Community Center are working towards revamping the old tee ball field at the community center.  Hopes are it should be opened by the end of May!

Chief Financial Officer, Lisa Oakes reported there continue to be issues with economic uncertainty, inflation, and costs increasing. Ms. Oakes said the town’s expenditure costs are continuing to rise faster than the town’s generated revenue.  Ms Oakes advised a few large line items are school funding, which increased by $181,000 for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, continued repair of our sidewalks and the requirements to fulfill the consent order issued by Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) related to the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).

The proposed FY 2026 budget includes a 2% increase on lodging from 6% to 8%.  This includes Air B&B style rentals, inns, hotels and bed & breakfasts.

It includes water and sewer rate increases which I will report on in part two of this month’s broad and last but not least a 1% increase in real estate taxes.

In addition, the proposed budget defers funding for a part-time customer service aide at town hall, part-time police officer, full-time parks maintenance crew, and full-time community planner

A proposal to add a professional crossing guard at the schools for arrivals and dismissals was declined, there is no Cost of Living (COLA) for town staff  to include law enforcement (school staff is receiving a 4.5% increase), the broken slide at the Washington Avenue Park will not be repaired, and a new mini-golf course will not be purchased.

As it stands now, the FY 2026 budget is only 5.7% higher than the FY 2025 adopted budget

On Wednesday, May 7th, during the town council work session, Resolution #15-25, adoption of the Colonial Beach Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for FY 2026-2030 was discussed at length.

Mayor Schick urged council to approve the CIP and reminded councilmembers the priorities within the CIP can be discussed further amongst councilmembers.  She stated, “This just gives us a holistic view, whether we like every single line item or not, to have a plan that can get further refined as funds get allocated to it.”

Recently, the town was awarded a $2.1 million matching grant from the Virginia Department of Transportation to complete the Dwight Avenue project and this is included in the CIP.  Mr. Williams appeared to question the necessity of the Dwight Avenue extension and then proposed a motion to double the amount allocated for sidewalks from $525,000 to over a million and Mr. Larson seconded.

Mr. Wood advised if the council compromises on passage of the CIP he would not have an issue with doubling the sidewalk budget.  Mayor Schick advised she also would be in favor of doubling it as long as there was a comprehensive study completed and not just ad-hoc sidewalk repair.   The Mayor then turned to Mr. Williams to ask if that sounded along the lines of what he was thinking.  Mr. Williams stated he was just trying to make a point that we don’t dive deeply into spending for example on sidewalks.  But it was odd since Mr. Williams made the initial motion to double the sidewalk budget.  The Mayor asked if he wanted to retract his motion and he said, “No, I won’t retract it.  We can vote and if it’s a friendly amendment as accepted.  If it’s not, then that’s fine.”

A vote ensued to include the amendment by Mr. Williams to double the budget of the sidewalks.  All voted in favor with the exception of Vice Mayor Allison.

Finally a vote ensued to pass the CIP with the proposed doubling funds allocated to sidewalk repairs.  All voted in favor to pass the CIP with the exception of Mr. Williams.

Next was discussion on Ordinance No. 767, which amends the Town of Colonial Beach Code, Chapter 20, Taxation, ”Article 1, “In General” Section 20-2, “Real Estate Tax,” by increasing the real estate tax rate from .78 to .79. per $100 of assessed value.  Mr. Woods, Mr. Larson supported the increase and expressed concerns about losing law enforcement officers.  Mr. Williams stated he wanted to go line by line through the budget and has not had the opportunity to do so.  He made reference to having “secret squirrel meetings” with the town manager but as a body had not heard any other member’s proposed cuts. Town Manager Tucker spoke and asked the Mayor if she could clarify something stated.  Ms. Tucker said, addressed Mr. Williams and stated, “Requests were made of town council and meetings were scheduled with the town council to review the budget line by line. ”  She addressed Mr. Williams and stated it was very disingenuous for him to suggest the meetings were done in secret or private since she had previously mentioned at a public meeting that those meetings would take place.  The Mayor called order and Mr. Williams said he did not mean disrespect for Ms. Tucker or town staff but urged transparency.

Ms. Sandford stated that she did not think the budget process was efficient and that is why she did not submit any cuts to the town manager.

After much discussion, council voted unanimously to send the budget back to town staff  so councilmembers have more time to submit ideas.

Council voted to increase to sewer and water rates each by 8%.  Ms. Schick held a roll call vote to start with Ms. Grandstaff, who passed on voting, next Ms. Sandford voting nay,  Vice Mayor Allison voting aye, Mr. Wood & Mr. Larson voting aye, Mr. Williams voting nay, and then Ms. Grandstaff voted nay.  The tie breaking vote was Ms. Schick who voted to pass the increase.

Water service increases are as follows:

Current $384 annually/$96 quarterly/monthly $32

With 8% increase $414.72/$103.68/$34.65

Total cost of increase  $30.72/$7.68/$2.56

Sewer service increases are as follows:

Current $934 annually/$233 quarterly/$77.83 monthly

With 8% increase $1008.72/$252.18/$84.06

Total cost of increase $74.72/$18.68/$6.23