Government: Warren County, Virginia
Body: Board of Supervisors
Date: June 23, 2026, 6:00 PM
Location: Warren County Government Center
Type: Regular Meeting
Timestamp: 01:34:35
Duration: 1:28
At this meeting, I raised a concern that has been building through several budget discussions: trust in the adopted budget.
My concern was not about one specific expense alone. It was about the pattern residents can feel when a budget is adopted, but then additional items keep appearing afterward. When the public sees more money added after the fact, it becomes harder to understand whether the original budget gave a full picture of what was already expected.
I used the recent airport T-hangar funding issue as an example of that broader concern. If a cost is known or reasonably anticipated, I would rather see it flagged during the budget process than appear later as a surprise. Even if the final amount is uncertain, the public should be told what may be coming.
That is the heart of budget trust. Residents understand that budgets are forecasts, not prophecies. But when the public keeps learning about new additions after adoption, it raises a reasonable question: did everyone else know this was coming except the public?
After my comment, the Director of Social Services provided helpful context about the Children’s Services Act budget. He explained that CSA costs are difficult to predict because they depend on the number of children entering foster care and the number of students needing special services or private day schooling. Those are mandated expenses, meaning the county must pay when the need arises.
That explanation matters. Some budget increases are not discretionary wish-list items; they are legal and human obligations tied to vulnerable children and families. The challenge is that the public still needs enough context to understand why the budget changed.
This is where transparency can build trust instead of eroding it. If a cost is unpredictable, say so clearly. If it is mandated, explain the mandate. If it depends on caseloads, show the trend. If the county is making its best forecast, describe the assumptions behind that forecast.
A budget can never predict everything. But the public record can still help residents understand what changed, why it changed, and whether the county is managing those changes responsibly.
Transcript (auto-generated)
0:00We’re going to have to give you an award.
0:03
3 secondsI know. I think I’m trying to shoot for a thousand. Uh Lewis Motton, North River District.
0:09
9 secondsUm so here here’s the problem I’m having is budget trust. We we had a budget and now
0:15
15 secondswe’re jumping in with more than 1% increase. Uh a while back we had, you know, the increase on the airport tea
0:24
24 secondshangers. So, I’m like, do we already know that this going to come through, but we just don’t put it on the budget
0:32
32 secondsbecause we’re trying to make sure we get under that that cap of what’s available on the budget? I I understand we we’re
0:40
40 secondsonly contributing a small amount, but it would have been nice to say, hey, this is coming up or this is what’s to be expected. I I don’t know. I I know we
0:49
49 secondshave to have work with hard figure numbers on that budget, but I was constantly finding out, oh, there’s um
0:56
56 secondsmoney left over that they’re So, the proposed budget versus what was asked was lowered because they knew they were
1:03
1 minute, 3 secondsgoing to have some money left over, but that wasn’t reflected on the budget. So, it’s had a lot of confusion. Now, I’m seeing a lot of other things being added
1:10
1 minute, 10 secondsto the budget. So, I’m like, can I trust the budget or is this are we going to keep seeing these big additions and additions and additions and everybody
1:19
1 minute, 19 secondsknows about the additions except for everybody else. So, that’s that’s that’s the concern I have is there what’s going on. So, thank you very much.
1:29
1 minute, 29 secondsThank you.
1:31
1 minute, 31 secondsI was going to say if you um CPMT is a bit complicated to say the
1:38
1 minute, 38 secondsleast. Madam chair, members of the board, good evening. I’m John Mars, director of social services. Um, speaking to Mr. Motton, uh, the problem
1:47
1 minute, 47 secondswith the CSA budget is it is completely dependent upon the number of children that enter into foster care. It’s also
1:54
1 minute, 54 secondsdependent upon the number of children in the public schools who get the special services or the um, private day
2:02
2 minutes, 2 secondsschooling, which is impossible to know ahead of time. And so we try to forecast as well as we can for that. But I would
2:10
2 minutes, 10 secondssay two years ago we had a rush of children come into foster care. Last year not so much. This year
2:18
2 minutes, 18 secondsdouble digit children came into foster care. These are mandated expenses. And so the county has to put up the money and and pay for it. And so what we try
2:27
2 minutes, 27 secondsto do is forecast ahead of time as far as we can. We think this is the number of children who might come into care or we think this is number of children
2:34
2 minutes, 34 secondsthrough the schools who might need services. Generally, we can ballpark it.
2:38
2 minutes, 38 secondsThis year, unfortunately, we had more kids needing of services than was forecast.
