WEST POINT — The Town of West Point is facing a budget shortfall of just over $400,000 as it considers department requests for fiscal year 2027.

Assistant Town Manager Steve Hudgins detailed expected expenses of $12.2 million against revenues of $11.7 million during his Jan. 27 presentation of the budget request for the next financial year.

“The difference is about $418,000 right now,” he said. Hudgins said the figures are still under review.

He said the town also faces “a bit of a gap” between revenue and expenses in its water budget.

The funding gap is smaller than a year ago when the town experienced a shortfall of $938,000, leading to increases in its real estate and personal property tax rates.

The largest request is for the school division’s operating fund, totaling about $5 million. The amount budgeted is set to fall from just over $678,000 to under $339,600.

“We also had a bit of an internal shuffle in our organization, and you are going to see in the human resources department some growth,” Hudgins said.

West Point imposed a 3-cent increase in real estate taxes, a 20-cent increase in personal property taxes and a 13-cent hike in the machinery and tools tax last year. West Point residents ended up paying an additional 6.5 cents per $100 in value on real estate because King William County imposed a 3.5-cent rise.

Residents also face a real estate reassessment year, according to officials.

The reassessments would take effect in January 2027.

“That would not affect this budget process. Obviously, it would affect your revenues in the next budget cycle,” Edwards said.

The previous budget reassessment was conducted in 2022.

David Macaulay, Davidmacaulayva@gmail.com

https://www.pilotonline.com/2026/02/23/west-point-facing-budget-shortfall-for-next-fiscal-year/