Dublin Council Gets Good Budget News
By DAVID QUESENBERRY
Patriot Publishing
The Dublin Town Council got some good news at its August meeting about the Town budget for the last fiscal year.
Town Manager Darrin Cullip told Council that as of June 30, 2026 the Town’s General Fund Revenues were at 100 percent of budget or slightly over. Because of the budget’s positive performance, transfers from the Town’s DIDA Industrial Park account were only about one-third of its projected level. Some revenues he said such as Meals Tax performed better than expected while others such as the Franchise Tax were lower. An unexpected boost to revenues came from a 6 percent increase in the reimbursement of highway maintenance funds from VDOT. General Fund Expenditures came in under budget at 96 percent of the amount projected for the fiscal year.
Enterprise Fund revenues for the year were 117 percent of anticipated revenues. Enterprise Fund Expenditures for the year came in under budget at 76 percent. Cullip said the expenditures were lower because the Town did not do a lot of water projects but concentrated more on repairs. With respect to Debt Service, he said everything had been paid off except a water loan. Staff would be looking into what the final payoff for the loan would be. If it were possible, more funds could be applied to payments on the loan each year to retire that debt early.
For July, the first month of Fiscal Year 2026-2027, General Fund revenues were at 2 percent of budget, while General Fund expenditures were at 5 percent of budget. Cullip said the difference was due to revenues that still had to come in, but that the new budget was still on track. The Enterprise Fund showed a favorable position with revenues for July at 8 percent of budget with expenditures at 6 percent.
In other business, Council heard a presentation from Ms. Linda Davis, Executive Director of the Pulaski Adult Day Service and Fall Prevention Center concerning a recent change in policy by the Veterans Administration, making it harder for veterans to access care at the center.
Davis said that the VA had changed regulations that would reduce veterans seeking care at the center, or similar facilities from 5 days a week to 2 days a week. This has caused extreme stress for families attempting to care for family members and has even led to veterans having to go to nursing homes or into other situations. Davis said that efforts were being made to find out why this change in regulations was made. Contact had been made with Congressman Griffith’s office, regarding the problem.
The situation was not unique to the Dublin facility. Davis said she had been in contact with the director of the Adult Care Center of the Roanoke Valley which serves a large number of veterans. According to Davis, they told her they were having the same issue in working with veterans because of this change. They had contacted Congressman Ben Cline about the problem. Cline replied by email telling them that the Veterans Administration had been given $50 billion additional dollars in this fiscal year for community programs for veterans, such as the Adult Day Service Center.
Davis felt the situation was not at all fair and that all veterans had earned the right to this benefit through their service. She was at a loss as to why this cutback was done despite the additional funding and lack of response at the federal level. Davis emphasized the savings that the service center in Dublin offers families needing assistance in caring for a loved one. The cost of services offered are 82 percent less that the cost of assisted living and could result in annual savings of from $40,000 to $60,000 in the cost of care. She requested Council’s assistance in seeking to get this issue resolved.
Council also heard administrative reports from department heads. Kim Dalton, Treasurer told Council that the Town went online with the new computer software for utility and taxes. She said payroll and human resources would be added next month and that employees were making a smooth transition in using the new program.
Town Manager Darrin Cullip told Council that work was continuing on the brown field grant and that he hoped to have an information session at a future Council meeting. He told Council of a water break on 4th Street which flooded the basements of two homes. The Town’s insurance denied claim, but one claim had been negotiated and another settlement was pending. Staff continued to work on trying to track down the source of a 30,000 gallon water loss in the system. Some progress had been made in working to identify the general location of the leak. In addition, several valves in the water system had been repaired or replaced in several locations in the Town.
Council authorized Chief David King to begin procurement of new patches for the Police Department. Mayor Debbie Lyons also requested Councilmembers to think about organizations and activities that the Council could assist to help the community. She asked that any suggestions be forwarded on to the Town Manager.
Council then discussed citizen’s concerns over utility billing. Donna Moore asked Council if it would be possible to give more advanced notice on rate increases or give notice through multiple means. She also asked what the reason for the water increases were. Cullip responded that one reason was the rising cost of maintenance, especially with the cost of materials. A second reason given was that the Town of Dublin buys its water from Pulaski County which increased the cost of water to the Town by 8 percent this year. To assist citizens, the Town kept increases as 6 percent electing to absorb 2 percent of the increase to help citizens. Town Attorney Trent Crewe explained that by state law, utilities such as water were enterprise funds. Any expenses for maintaining the utility system must be borne by the system’s customers. Jimmie Wyrick also spoke against the increases pointing out the hardship on persons with fixed incomes and questioning the need for rate increases.
The next scheduled meeting of the Dublin Town Council will be at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, September 17, 2026 in the Council Chambers of the Dublin Town Hall located in the Dublin Town Center.