King William County's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to dissolve the Citizen's Budget Advisory Committee, a seven-member volunteer panel created just last year to help steer the county through a budget process that has been marred by errors, delays and missed deadlines. The vote came even as a former committee member says he's still waiting on answers about a sizable gap in the county's fiscal 2027 budget.
A Short-Lived Experiment in Citizen Oversight
The Board approved Resolution 28-64 in a 5-0 vote to dismantle the committee, according to King William Informer. The panel was formed in May 2025 by Supervisors Lindsay Robinson, Justin Catlett and Ben Edwards, with the stated goal of bringing together volunteers with financial expertise to assist the county's budget process. King William Informer reported that Chair Bohannon and Mr. Fogg were not on the board when the committee was formed. The committee met only once, and supervisors said it did not maintain required membership.
The county has hired additional staff since the committee was created.
Supervisors Defend the Decision
Supervisors Defend the Decision Supervisors said the committee had not maintained required membership.
Chris Couch, a resident who served on the committee, pushed back on the board's rationale. He said the committee met only once, developed a list of questions that needed board guidance, and never received answers to its requests, adding that the board failed to engage with the committee and that later requests to meet went unanswered.
Unresolved Budget Discrepancy Looms Over the Decision
Couch has continued to raise questions about a discrepancy in the fiscal 2027 budget. A separate accounting breakdown published by King William Informer in its report on a supervisor meeting put the gap at roughly $1.7 million, noting that the county's approved $41.1 million figure represented a spending plan while the $39.4 million appropriation reflected what the board actually authorized.
The dissolution comes against a backdrop of financial turbulence that has dogged King William County for months. The county was hit with $71,388 in IRS penalties for missed payroll tax payments in the third quarter of 2025, according to the Daily Press. The same report found that the fiscal year 2025 budget was out of balance in the county's financial system and that some board actions had never been recorded, prompting supervisors to authorize $1.6 million in transfers to better align the fiscal 2026 budget.
Finance Director Stacey McBride, who arrived in November 2025, found a department with just one part-time clerk and one finance specialist, the Daily Press report noted. The payroll problems followed the departure of a payroll employee.
Audits Still Behind Schedule
The accounting troubles extend well beyond a single budget cycle. An external auditor told the board on Sept. 28 that the county's financial-statement audits remain behind schedule, according to a citizenportal.ai account of the meeting. The auditor said a full October completion would be a stretch and identified a material weakness along with significant deficiencies in prior-year audits, estimating overall progress on the fiscal 2024 and 2025 financial-statement audits at roughly 65 percent.
Despite scrapping the committee, supervisors signaled they aren't done with the idea of citizen financial input. The board discussed regrouping and potentially bringing a revised version of the committee, with an updated scope and purpose, back for consideration at its December meeting. Other Virginia localities have included citizen participation in budgeting, including Chesterfield County.
