Both the Russell County Board of Supervisors and Russell County School Board has passed their budgets for the new fiscal year of 2026-2027.
During the June 24 budget workshop meeting, the supervisors were discussing a proposed budget that Russell County Administrator Lonzo Lester said was balanced.
However, late in that meeting, Russell County Schools’ Finance Director Brooke Webb addressed requirements from the Virginia General Assembly’s budget. Brooke said requirements from Richmond created a difference of just over $1 million in what the supervisors set aside for the school system and what the school system needed.
In the lead up to the June 29 meeting of the board of supervisors, Superintendent of Russell County Schools Dr. Kim Hooker sent out a notification of a potential reduction in workforce. Numerous social media posts were made by school system employees and supporters, urging them to attend the June 29 meeting.
With such a crowd potentially coming to the meeting, calls went out to move the meeting into the Russell County Government Center’s Conference Room. However, that room was already booked by Salt and Light Ministry for a free showing of a faith-based movie.
“We didn’t want to run the church people off,” said David Eaton, Chairman of the Russell County Board of Supervisors, at the onset of the meeting.
As for the budget, he added, “We’re going to do the right thing and take care of our people.”
Asking Hooker to join him at the podium, Lester said, “We have worked diligently on this. We’ve made different cuts and we’ve come to a solution.”
Hooker said capital improvements have been cut at all locations, “…so we don’t have to cut programs.”
Lester said the county made cuts to salary bonuses and will not hire replacements for those retiring from certain positions. Budget expenditures such a travel costs were also cut.
District 3’s Tara Dye asked for clarification on three issues. Those were if the budget was balanced, the schools were fully funded and the Finney trash site would remain open.
“Yes,” Lester answered. “Those three items are correct.”
Several supervisors stressed that the two boards need to work closely throughout the year in order to avoid the chaotic environment that seems to plague budget cycles.
“If we don’t work on it we’ll be in the same situation next year,” explained Steve Breeding, of District 5. “Hopefully we won’t be in this situation next year.”
“We need to work at lot closer together,” Dye said. “We’ll need to meet a lot.”
Rebecca Dye, of District 6, said, “We need to work on this or we’ll be in the same shape next year or far worse.”
“We need to pray for our county and pray for one another,” Eaton added.
Referring to the General Assembly’s practice of passing monetary requirements that must be funded of localities, Eaton added, “Northern Virginia doesn’t care about us. We’re going to have to take care of ourselves.”
Lester agreed. “We got shorted down here in Southwest Virginia, if that surprises anybody,” he said.
Lester added that previous administrations had been more kind to other areas of the Commonwealth than the current administration of Governor Abigail Spanberger. “Previous administrations were more generous,” he said. “This administration was not.”
He said now that the region has a better understanding of the new administration, “We’ll be prepared.”
The Russell County School Board passed its budget the following evening on June 30.
“Thank you all for your hard work with that budget this year,” stated Cynthia Compton, Chair of the Russell County School Board.
