Local officials confer with legislators in Richmond on Local Government Day

Each year the Virginia Municipal League invites its members to the VML Local Government
Day in Richmond at the mid-point of the General Assembly session. All cities, towns, and
counties are able to come together and advocate on behalf of their communities. According to the
VML, “local leaders have always played a crucial role in explaining to state legislators how the
actions they take at the General Assembly affect Virginia’s communities.”

Members of Vinton Town Council and town staff, the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors
and county staff, and Roanoke County School administrators attended the 2026 session on
February 5.

Vinton leaders who attended included Mayor Brad Grose, Councilmembers Mike Stovall and
Keith Liles, Town Manager Pete Peters, and Deputy Town Manager Cody Sexton.

Roanoke County representatives included Board of Supervisors Chair Tammy Shepherd and
board member Phil North, Deputy County Administrator Doug Blount, County Attorney Peter
Lubeck, and Roanoke County Executive Asst. to Administration Kaelyn Spickler.

Roanoke County School Superintendent Dr. Ken Nicely and Asst. School Superintendent Dr.
Jamie Soltis spoke on behalf of issues concerning the county school system.

Some of the legislators who local officials met with included Sen. David Suetterlein, Sen. Chris
Head, Del. Sam Rasoul, Del. Will Davis, Del. Terry Austin, and Del. Lily Franklin.

“The trip’s heavy schedule included personal one-on-one visits with our elected representatives,
Senator Sam Rasoul, Delegate Will Davis and a conversation with Delegate Terry Austin,” said
Mayor Grose. “The group also attended a session of the House Committee on General Laws as
well as the entire VML program which featured speeches by US Senator Mark Warner, the
Secretary of Finance, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Mayor of Richmond. The trip provided us with the opportunity to directly express our interest in bills being considered in this
session of the Legislature. A valuable aspect of the event was the opportunity to interact with
other elected and appointed officials from throughout Virginia. We used this occasion to share
experiences and gain valuable insight on situations that often occur in local government.”

“The Town of Vinton’s reputation for having a highly qualified professional staff has earned us
new respect among our peers. The entire trip was extremely beneficial, educational, and
reassuring that we are doing an exceptional job for our citizens in the Town of Vinton.”

Town Manager Pete Peters mentioned some specific items that were discussed with state
legislators:

• Seeking clarification for skill games/queen machines in convenience stores. The
  machines are illegal per state code, although manufacturers have discovered loopholes in
  the operation that prevent prosecution.  The Town and other local governments are
  seeking state legislators to remove loopholes and provide clear enforcement guidance for
  local law enforcement and the commonwealth attorneys across the state.
• Opposing any changes to the funding formulas that would reduce the Town’s share of
  pari-mutuel tax revenue generated from HHR.
• Opposing various state legislation that seeks to remove or cap the ability of a city, town,
  or county government to generate local revenue. Various bills have been introduced that
  would have a detrimental effect on the Town should they become law, such as a cap and
  reduction on meals tax and a reduction of the local share of state sales tax.
• Opposing various legislation that would remove or limit the ability of local governments
  to make their own local ordinances on land use. In an effort to increase affordable
  housing, various bills have been introduced allowing manufactured and other alternative
  homes as a by-right-use and removing the Town’s ability to limit zoning restrictions on
  where they could be located.
• Opposing various legislation that removes or limits qualified immunity for public safety
  officers in civil lawsuits.

“We were pleased to be able to join members of the Board of Supervisors and Roanoke County
staff to meet with some of the legislators who represent Roanoke County,” said School Superintendent Dr. Ken Nicely.

“We are stronger and more effective when we work together in unity to advocate for the needs of
our citizens, families, and children.”

“Our group met specifically with Del. Rasoul, Del. Franklin, and Sen. Suetterlein in their
individual offices to ask for their help with a couple key areas of concern that affect schools.

“One immediate issue is the rising cost to both the school system as well as the county, related to
private educational placements using Comprehensive Services Act (CSA) funds. Del. Rasoul
assisted us in introducing a proposal to give us the flexibility to use CSA funds for intensive
programs operated internally by the school district, and we have asked for the support of the
other legislators.

“Another area of potential concern is related to a General Assembly bill that would force every
local government and school district in Virginia to engage in collective bargaining. Our position
is that the decision to engage in collective bargaining should be left to each locality, based on
their needs of their citizens and families.”

County Attorney Peter Lubeck summed up the priorities discussed in meetings with both
delegates and senators.

“In 1993, a Virginia Law (now entitled The Children’s Services Act for At-Risk Youth and
Families (“CSA”) provided for the pooling of several specific funding streams to purchase
services for high-risk youth. These funds are returned to the localities with a required state/local
match and are managed by local interagency teams. The act aims to provide high-quality, child-
centered, family-focused, cost-effective, community-based services to high-risk youth and their
families.

“The funding streams included in the pool include the Departments of Social Services, Juvenile
Justice, Education, and Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services.

“The children the education funds and foster care funds would have served are considered
‘mandated’ for assistance; if there is a need, the FAPT and CMPT must approve appropriate
services to address the need. This is because the Act states that the state and localities must
expend ‘sums sufficient to address such needs’.

“Who manages the money? At the local level, the funds are managed by two different teams: a
Community Policy and Management Team (CPMT), and a Family Assessment and Planning
Team (FAPT).

“Typically, when it is proposed that a child or family is in need of services, a DSS case worker,
school staff member, etc., will bring the proposal before the FAPT. The FAPT then makes a
recommendation to the CPMT. The CPMT will then approve the funding. Children who cannot
receive educational services in public school classrooms are often placed in ‘private day’ special
education schools.

“The issues the county sees include the state’s cap on reimbursing increases for private day
services and the escalating costs of private day services.

“In the 2025 Appropriations Act, the General Assembly capped state reimbursement to localities
for private day special education services by stipulating that state reimbursement would not
increase more than 5% over the rates for such services for the previous year. Because of the
Act’s ‘sum sufficiency’ language, this cap on state reimbursement then shifts the burden to
localities to cover such increases in private day rates. For the upcoming fiscal year 2026, the
proposed budget includes a further reduction–it tightens the cap to 2.5%.

“These services are expensive, and the cost of providing such services continues to rise at an
alarming rate. Localities, especially in areas such as Roanoke County, are entirely at the mercy
of the private day providers who, because there is more demand than supply, have the power to essentially set their rates (if we don’t accept the rates, they will simply accept students from
other localities who are willing to pay the rates).

“The County’s request is to eliminate the state’s cap on private day reimbursement. Allow
Roanoke County Public Schools to participate in a pilot program which would allow them to use
CSA funds to provide services typically provided in a private-day setting within a public-school
setting (internal private-day).

“Roanoke County believes this action will better serve the children in need (by ensuring that they
receive instruction from qualified and responsible instructors and by allowing them to receive
educational services in a less-restrictive setting), and enable localities to control the skyrocketing
costs of private-day services.”

Delegate Sam Rasoul has introduced a budget amendment which directs the Office of Children’s
Services (OCS) and the Department of Education (DOE) to implement a limited pilot program,
allowing select school divisions, including Roanoke County Public Schools, the flexibility to use
CSA funds to support the operational costs of internal public day programs for eligible students.

Other issues of concern for Roanoke County include:

• Adjusting Statutory Notices of Effective Tax Rate Increases to Account for Inflation
• Allocating $40M for Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport terminal enhancements and
  $7M for a runway extension feasibility study. Increase funding to the Commonwealth
  Aviation Fund to support improvements at all Virginia commercial service airports.
• Opposing mandated collective bargaining for local public employees.
• Using available funds to continue the operation and expansion of Catawba Hospital.
• Using available state and federal funding to improve broadband access and affordability
  to promote the statewide coverage goal.

The consensus was the Local Government Day had been quite productive.