Pulaski County Supervisors pass $173 million balanced budget
William Paine/Patriot Publishing
Pulaski High School senior Carter Smith wins the $1,000 One Bag Challenge Scholarship sponsored by the county and the school board. Here, several members of the school board gather with county supervisors to present Smith with an oversized check. Soon after this photo was taken, the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors presented Carter Smith with an oversized $3,000 check, as he was also named as the recipient of the county’s Lead Through Service scholarship program.
By WILLIAM PAINE
Patriot Publishing
The Pulaski County Board of Supervisors passed several resolutions at Monday evening’s meeting, including the adoption of the $173 million budget for fiscal year 2025/2026.
Pulaski County Finance Director Patricia Cox updated council on the budget, which includes monies allocated to the opening of the new pool at Randolph Park, the phase 2 expansion of the county’s fire department, debt service for the Sportsplex, the required local match for the school system, a significant increase in health insurance and a cost-of-living increase and onetime bonus for county staff.
Cox also noted that the county’s budget is $1,274,325 over the amount presented at last week’s public hearing but since the increase was less than 1% of the total budget, no additional public hearing was required. Both Cox and County Administrator Jonathan Sweet emphasized that the budget contains no new fees or tax increases.
Much of the increase resulted from the school system’s revised budget which, due to new fiscal calculations passed down from the Virginia Department of Education, required an additional million dollars more in local matching funds.
Following the adoption of the FY 2026 budget, the supervisors unanimously approved a resolution to appropriate approximately $24 million to the Pulaski County School system
Several members of the school board were present at the meeting, as was Superintendent Rob Graham, who took the opportunity to address the county supervisors.
“So proud of everything that y’all are doing, and hope that you all can make graduation with us on Friday,” said Graham. “I don’t think we would be going in the direction that we’re going without your all’s support. It’s been a very difficult and challenging budget year for us and we’ve struggled with some insurance things. In other counties, they’re not funding the required local match and I’m not sure what we would do with our school community if you weren’t able to provide the support that you provided to us. So, I come here with a grateful heart and thank you for everything you’re doing for our students and school community.”
“Thank you, and we are happy to support our school children and work with you guys and appreciate your willingness to work with us as well,” responded Chairwoman Laura Walters.
“This was a challenging budget year,” added County Administrator Jonathan Sweet. “I think we reached the best result possible. So, I want to thank Mr. Graham and the school board members and their entire finance staff for working with us the way they did.”
Lydia Crockett, Pulaski County’s Small Business Solutions Director, requested that the board renew the Pulaski County Restaurants and Eatery Grant, which allows newly established restaurants a 75% reimbursement for the 4% meal tax that eateries are required to pay. The eatery grant requires businesses to be based out of Pulaski County and extends over a three-year period with meal tax reimbursement decreasing each subsequent year.
The board voted to extend the Restaurants and Eatery grant for three more years.
Supervisors passed the Six Year Secondary Road Improvement plan with the top priority of resurfacing Route 726/Sayers Road at a total cost of approximately $222,000. Preliminary engineering work will be done of Route 830/High Road, which is next on the list of priorities.
Gina Paine, Chairwoman of the Pulaski County School Board, came to the podium to announce the winner of the One Bag Challenge scholarship program, which awards $1,000 to a high school student. This year’s winner is PCHS Senior Carter Smith, who plans to attend Radford University in the fall.
“Carter participated in the one bag challenge with other students and his essay was so well written that there’s no doubt he is absolutely the best choice for this scholarship,” said Paine.
Carter Smith was then declared winner of the county’s Lead Through Service Scholarship. The supervisors passed a resolution honoring Smith and subsequently presented him with an oversized $3,000 check.
As she’s done for the past two months, Laura Walters asked her fellow supervisors to draw names for the One Bag Challenge gift certificate giveaway. Each month during spring, participants in the One Bag Challenge are eligible to receive a $100 gift certificate through random drawings. So far, 1,487 bags and 216 tires were picked as part of this year’s One Bag Challenge with 324 people participating. Monday evening’s winners were the Pulaski Sports Club, Virginia Eagle and Krista Lindsey.
The One Bag Challenge will continue for another month and the last gift certificate drawing of the year will occur at the June meeting of the supervisors.
There was only one public hearing at Monday’s meeting of the board. Jeffery Akers requested that a half-acre parcel of land on Riggs Street in Dublin be rezoned from Agricultural to Low Density Residential. No one spoke at the hearing and the board granted Akers request.
Lastly, county leaders passed a resolution recognizing May 20 as National Rescue Dog Day. Pulaski County resident Cindy Eller addressed the board before the vote and spoke about a book entitled Sweet Senior Pups, which tells the story of Jack and Buffy, two rescue dogs from the Pulaski County animal shelter.
Eller expressed her deep concern for all rescue animals noting that in any given year there are 7 million dogs and cats in shelters in the United States. According to Eller, up to 4 million of these shelter animals are euthanized annually. Pit Bulls account for 40% of dogs euthanized in the US. Chihuahuas are the second most euthanized and German Shepherds are third on the list.
Pulaski County Animal Control Officer Julie Webb provided the board with an update stating that in 2023, the shelter took in 993 cats and dogs.
“Our euthanasia numbers are down,” said Webb. “Rescue is the main way to get them out of the shelter. We’ve had 1,119 animals rescued since 2023. Since 2021, we’ve spayed or neutered 3,480 animals.”
Webb concluded by thanking county leaders for providing funds which will significantly increase spay and neuter operations at the Pulaski County Animal Shelter.
William Paine/Patriot Publishing
Pulaski County High School Student Representative Nora Lester receives a token of appreciation from the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors for her monthly reports on the school system.