Amid concerns over financial pressures experienced by county residents due to inflation and skyrocketing fuel costs, coupled with a declining student population, several members of the Mathews County Board of Supervisors looked for ways to trim the school division’s budget during a joint work session Tuesday night in the Mathews High School media center.
Supervisors Mike Walls and Dave Jones both spoke in favor of what they termed “level funding”—keeping the county’s contribution equivalent to the amount it was for the current year.
That level funding (which is less the meals tax money and a midyear appropriation of $320,000) would be slightly under $9 million, which falls about $1.17 million short from what the division had requested in its operating budget, adopted back in February.
The average county taxpayer’s wages aren’t going up, and at the same time they’re paying more at the grocery store and the gas pump, Jones said. “When are we going to stop” with yearly school budget hikes...