By Taylor Boyd
The Patrick County Board of Supervisors approved a set of financial policies presented by Davenport & Company, LLC during its June 8 meeting.
Davenport Vice President Austin Sacks said the policies are designed to help the county maintain its strong financial position after several years of improving its fiscal health.
Sacks said the county’s unassigned fund balance, or reserves, has steadily increased over the past five years. More than a decade ago, however, the county faced annual deficits and relied on its reserves to cover expenses.
“The county had more expenditures than revenues, and actually in 2018-2019, the county had to do what’s called a Revenue Anticipation Note. It’s a short-term borrowing that must be repaid by the end of the fiscal year. What that really does is give the county enough cash on hand so that it can offer services, make its operational payments ahead of revenue influxes, those mostly being property taxes,” he said.
After seven years of focusing on structurally balanced budgets, Sacks said the county is now in a much stronger financial position.
“It’s been several years of good financial stewardship on the county’s behalf to put the county in a strong financial position that it is today,” he said.
Over the past five fiscal years, the county has maintained an unassigned fund balance exceeding 20 percent of its annual budget, Sacks said. In fiscal year 2025, that amounted to about $19 million.
Among Davenport’s recommendations is a policy requiring the county to maintain an unassigned fund balance equal to 20 percent of the annual budget. Sacks also recommended creating a budget stabilization fund equal to 2.5 percent of the budget.
“The rational and thought process there is you don’t want the unassigned fund balance to be sacrosanct — we don’t want to touch it, keep our powder dry. That budget stabilization fund will be the first line of defense for any unforeseen revenue shortfalls or expenditures,” Sacks said.
He also recommended establishing a capital reserve fund for one-time priorities identified by the board.
If the county ends a fiscal year with a budget surplus, Sacks recommended using a “waterfall” approach to allocate the excess funds.
“First and foremost, making sure that 20 percent unassigned fund balance bucket is full. Then once that is accomplished, 50 percent of that surplus is going into the budget stabilization fund until it is at 2.5 percent, and over and above that to the capital reserved fund or additional reserves for the county that can be used at the board’s discretion for one-time purposes that being capital, debt paydown, etcetera,” Sacks said.
Sacks said the county currently has about $26.7 million in outstanding debt.
“It’s a series of loans that translates into a $2.6-$2.7 million annual payment. This is all fixed rate debt, it all pays off in 2040,” he said, adding that about 69.8 percent of the debt will be paid off within the next 10 years.
He recommended adopting a policy limiting the county’s debt-to-assessed-value ratio to no more than 3.25 percent. He also recommended capping annual debt service at no more than 10 percent of expenses.
“With a not to exceed 10 percent policy, for every dollar in the budget, we want to make sure that no more than 10 cents of that dollar is going to make a debt service payment,” Sacks said.
In other business, the board:
*Heard from Richard Landis, who spoke about Appalachian Power’s recent herbicide spraying to control vegetation. Landis asked the board to see whether the company would switch from spraying to cutting unwanted foliage.
*Heard from Kurt Bozenmayer, who praised Patrick County Commonwealth’s Attorney Dayna Bobbitt, Sheriff Dan Smith and the board for its continued support of county residents’ Second Amendment rights.
*Heard from Ed Pool, who asked the board to remove the old solar ordinance from the Planning Commission’s website. Pool also asked the board to consider purchasing an Otter.ai subscription to transcribe board meetings.
*Presented the June Patrick County Partner Award to Larry and Margaret Vernon.
*Approved a $4,141,354.50 appropriation for the Department of Social Services’ fiscal year 2026-27 budget.
*Approved releasing $76,000 in capital improvement funds to the JEB Stuart Volunteer Rescue Squad.
*Approved the treasurer’s alternate signatory as presented.
*Nominated LuAnn McGuinness to the Southern Area Agency on Aging Board.
*Approved the May 11 and May 26 meeting minutes.
*Approved the bills, claims and appropriations.
*Heard the county administrator’s report.
*Heard supervisors’ reports.
