The Mathews County Board of Supervisors, meeting for a fifth budget work session on Monday, wrangled over the FY2026 budget for eight hours, finally whittling a looming deficit in half, to $844,931. This also cut in half the real estate tax increase required to fund the overage, from 8 cents per $100 of assessed value to 4.2 cents per $100 of assessed value.
The tax rate the board will thus bring to the budget public hearing, to be held at 6 o’clock tonight, Thursday, April 17 at Thomas Hunter Middle School, will be 60 cents per $100 of assessed value on real estate, or an increase of 4 cents per $100 of assessed value. (The real estate tax rate in 2023 was 64 cents per $100 of assessed value, reduced to the current 56 cents when real estate values increased significantly after reassessment.)
All other tax rates are projected to remain the same.
The $35.814 million county budget is also up for a public hearing tonight. The total budget includes $14.22 million in operating funds for cou...