By Angela H. Hill

The Patrick County Board of Supervisors met Monday, appointing Crystal Harris, Smith River District, as the board’s new chairperson. Stepping down from the post is Roger T. Hayden, Dan River District.

“It has been a pleasure and an honor to represent the people of the Dan River District and all people of the county as your chairman of the Board of Supervisors,” Hayden said. “Thank you all and the board for your support.”

Harris will vacate her post as vice chairperson. Lock Boyce, Mayo River District, will serve as the board’s vice chairman for the next year. The positions of chairperson and vice chairperson of the Board of Supervisors rotate each year among board members.

Following those appointments, Scott Wickham, audit manager at accounting firm Robinson, Farmer, Cox presented a detailed report of the county’s annual governmental audit. “I think everything went well here,” Wickham told board members.

A recurring theme throughout Wickham’s presentation is how the audit shows that over a 10-year period, the county experienced strong growth for the first five years but weaker growth during the most recent five years.

For example, property tax income increased by 5 percent from 2006-2016, but only 1 percent of that increase fell between 2011 and 2016. General property taxes, Wickham said, comprise 56 percent of county revenue.

“The staff is doing a great job getting grant funds in here,” Wickham said, “because state and federal funding programs are going away.”

Another notable aspect of the audit, Wickham said, is that the county school board increased expenditures by only 1 percent in a 10-year period, which is less than the 3-percent statewide average. “The school board is doing a good job of not increasing their costs,” he said.

Wickham also said that Patrick County’s budgetary situation is in keeping with most of southern Virginia. While Northern Virginia is doing OK, he said, the rest of the state is struggling. All of southern Virginia shows an above-average to high-average risk of having a hard time making county and city budgets work.

This assessment is based on revenue versus expenditures, Wickham continued, and considers a locality’s ability to tax and generate revenue per capita compared to its residents’ median household income.

Wickham and each member of the Board of Supervisors thanked all county staff members for their help gathering information for the county audit.

Board members then engaged in a discussion with Emergency Services Coordinator Steve Allen on the feasibility of sending county emergency medical services volunteers to EMT-Advanced and Paramedic training classes.

Allen said two graduates of the EMT-Basic class asked him about receiving EMT-Advanced training. He noted that up to eight EMS volunteers may be interested in advanced or paramedic training.

The problem is how best to fund the training, Allen and the supervisors agreed. The EMT-Advanced class must be conducted by an accredited testing facility. Seeking accreditation for Patrick County’s training facility would require the work of two full-time employees, Allen said. The process alone generates a three-inch thick binder of paper, he continued.

One option is to gather 18 students for a class at Jefferson College of Health Sciences through Carillion Clinic in Roanoke. Students would go to the Roanoke facility only for labs. The class costs a total of $47,500, a significant jump from the last time county students received EMT-Advanced training, Allen said.

For those wanting to become paramedics, Allen said, Surry Community College in North Caroline offers a program for $14,045. However, most of the county’s volunteer EMTs work full-time jobs and can’t attend the daytime paramedic class, he said.

Allen and several board members agreed that the paramedic class was a better deal for the money, but said retaining paramedics is challenging. Ideally, an EMT could gain experience as an EMT-A before pursing the rigorous coursework required of a paramedic, Allen, Boyce and Harris agreed.

“There is no state funding for any classes,” Allen said. “Students can apply for grants, but no one knows how much they’re going to be.”

One option, said Supervisor Karl Weiss, Blue Ridge District, is to check into Virginia Tobacco Commission grant funding for the EMT-A class. County Administrator Tom Rose said he would look into that.

Lock Boyce said Allen would first need to ensure 18 total students are interested in the EMT-A class. “See if you can get 18 and we’ll see if we can pay for it,” Boyce said. “It would be a real dramatic step toward improving things.”

Also, Allen shared that Tony Ramey of the Carilion New River Valley medical flight evacuation program would like to address supervisors, county personnel, and employees of Pioneer Community Hospital regarding an insurance program that covers med flights.

One helicopter trip from Patrick County to a medical facility can run $40,000-$50,000. Some patients find they need to prove to their health-insurance companies that the flight was necessary before insurance will cover the bill, Allen said.

Ramey will share information on a med flight insurance plan with premiums at $30 per individual and $70 per family per year. At first, the insurance will be open only to county and Pioneer employees, but it may be available at some point to all county residents, Boyce noted.

Next on the agenda, board members voted to approve the Multi-jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan, a plan required by law, allowing localities to receive federal aid in the event of a disaster.
Before the board went into executive session to discuss legal, contract and personnel matters; Rose shared information from a recent meeting of Department of Social Services directors. At that meeting, the directors said that the low starting salaries for Virginia Department of Social Services jobs is an obstacle to recruitment and retention.

Therefore, the VDSS, will explore raising the minimum salary requirements for new employees, Rose shared. He said state funds are not available to defray the additional cost of raising salaries for new hires.

In executive session, board members nominated and appointed Terri Mills to the Alcohol Safety Action Program and Rebecca Adcock to the Tourism Advisory Council.

The Board of Supervisors meets again Monday, Feb. 13, at 6 p.m. on the third floor of the Patrick County Veterans’ Memorial Building in Stuart.