Angels among us

 

Fighting fires is physically, intellectually, and sometimes emotionally demanding. Unlike firefighters on TV who extinguish a complicated blaze and are back in the firehouse by the end of the commercial break, in the real world, fires and other emergency response activities often take many hours and people to resolve.

Fires happen at any time, regardless of weather conditions. Often the elements pose as much of a hazard to responders as the incident.

Fighting Goochland fires in recent extreme condition

                                                    (Goochland fire-rescue images)

Ensuring that firefighters have support to recover and recharge from battling a blaze is vital. Agencies with limited personnel resources like Goochland are blessed to have backup in these situations from the Metro Richmond flying Squad.

D. E. “Eddie” Ferguson, Jr. Chief of Goochland Fire-Rescue and Emergency Services introduced Chief Rick Talley of the Flying Squad at the February 3 supervisors’ meeting. Talley explained the mission of his organization. A display of some of the Flying Squad’s equipment was set up in the admin building parking lot before the meeting.

Chief Rick Talley

Talley, a retired Chesterfield Fire & EMS battalion chief is a longtime friend and colleague of Ferguson. Talley has also been very active as a volunteer firefighter and district chief in Hanover County, so he understands both sides of the equation and what it takes for rural counties to provide fire and emergency medical services.

The service provided to Goochland Fire-Rescue by the Flying Squad is invaluable, said Ferguson.

Talley said that the Metro Richmond Flying Squad is an all-volunteer responder rehab agency with 38 response volunteers.  It is 100 percent funded as a 501 c (3) non-profit organization. Its membership includes active and retired duty responders both law enforcement and fire, as well as business owners, housewives, retirees, and regular citizens with a servant’s heart who want to help the community.

The Metro Richmond Flying Squad serves eight municipalities covering 2013 square miles from six response stations. They are Goochland, Richmond, Henrico, Hanover, New Kent, Hopewell, Powhatan, and Chesterfield. In 2025, the Squad ran 437 calls for service, 11 of those in Goochland.

Talley explained that rehab and recovery is an intervention designed to mitigate “the things that are messing with firefighters’ physical, physiological, and emotional stress” to sustain a member’s energy, improve performance, and decrease the likelihood of on scene injury or death.  Rehab reduces workers comp claims by fixing things to prevent injury.

When responders get fatigued and become dehydrated, they do not function as well. “That’s when we step in and work on the recovery phase to return the member’s physiological and psychological states to levels that enable them to perform additional emergency tasks, be reassigned, or be released from the scene with no adverse effects.”

The Flying Squad operates under protocols established by the National Fire Protection Association standards of dealing with firefighter health and wellness. These include relief from extreme climate and incident conditions; carcinogen removal and reduction before eating or drinking anything; rest and recovery; rehydration; replacement of calories and electrolytes; active or passive cooling or heating depending on incident types and climatic conditions; and medical assessment and monitoring.

Instant relief from scene conditions can vary. In warm weather conditions, measures, including cooling vests, are needed to quickly reduce body temperature. In cold weather firefighters sweat inside their bunker gear and chill rapidly when they stop working the blaze. The Squad sets up warming tents and has heated vests to counteract hypothermia.  On multi casualty incidents like a plane crash, they need relief from visuals of the carnage provided by a tent. Something as simple as providing dry socks is important during extended operations.

The two big killers of firefighters said Tally are cancer and cardiac events. Flying Squad members address those when they arrive on scene with hydration supplies and carcinogen reduction materials. Dehydration causes a reduction in bodily fluids, which makes the heart blood vessels thicker and blood pressure increases to counteract the depletion. “We start rehydrating them withing three to five minutes, the heart rate and blood pressure comes down, and we reset the cardiac event clock.

“To prevent absorption of carcinogens through the skin, we make firefighters clean up before eating or drinking to avoid inadvertently ingesting them.”

Tally quote the NFPA standard, “rehab is needed and required any time that firefighters are working strenuously without SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) for more than 40 minutes or after the completion of one SCBA cylinder (air bottle), when operating in extreme weather conditions, and during physically or emotionally stressful incident.”

When the Flying Squad is working on an emergency scene where law enforcement is involved, it has an occupant services protocol for people displaced by a house fire that takes care of them as they await the arrival of the Red Cross or similar agencies. It also established an animal rehab protocol, the first in North America, for responder and civilian animals rescued from fires.  

“The bottom line,” said Talley, “is that we take care of our responders and their needs because they have to go to the next scene and the next one. It’s real good stuff. I’m very proud of what we do and where we ‘ve come from,” Talley said of the organization founded in 2017.” We’re here for the firefighters, the citizens, whoever needs us. We’re always looking to continue moving forward we don’t ever sit on our laurels. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve.”

The Flying Squad worked six fires on the Saturday before the storm hit and seven fires the next Saturday and a few in between. The volunteers showed up and never complained, said Talley.

He thanked the supervisors for their support, which included donation of surplus fire-rescue vehicles.

Please visit the Richmond Flying Squad to learn more about its wonderful work at https://rvaflyingsquad.com/.

 

 

 

 

Interesting Reports

 

 

Assessments

Goochland County Assessor Mary Ann Davis presented the results of the 2026 county land assessments to the supervisors at their February 3 meeting.

Assessments reflect the fair market value as of January 1, 2026, said Davis. Notices were mailed to all landowners on January 15. Property owners have until February 17 to appeal their assessments. A call to her office at 804-556-5853 will start the process. This begins with a review of characteristics with the property owner followed by an interior inspection. A review of sales and equalizations is conducted after which the property owner is notified of the results by letter. If the owner is not satisfied with this investigation they have 30 days from the date of the letter to appeal to the Board of Equalization. If the landowner is not satisfied with that ruling the next step is an appeal to Circuit Court.

Davis explained that Goochland uses a mass appraisal approach, valuing “the forest and not the trees”. She went into a detailed explanation of coefficient of dispersion to describe the accuracy of methods used to value property whose results must fall into a narrow variance between assessed values and actual property sales. She opined that this means that 97 out of 100 property sales sell for at least their assessed value. Davis contended that property values in Goochland are the result of a sellers’ market because there are few resales, and new construction costs continue to increase,

The total taxable value of land, excluding new construction and land use, in Goochland increased about five percent from 2025; 81.98 percent residential, 18.02 percent commercial. (The supervisors have a goal of a residential to commercial tax base ratio of 70/30. In 2025, according to a chart presented by Davis, the ratio was 82.2/17.8)

The total taxable value of land in Goochland is $10.3 billion, of which three percent, or $294 million is attributed to new construction—77 percent residential and 23 percent commercial. Fair market value of land in the Tuckahoe Creek Service District is $2.8 billion. Land use (engaged in active agriculture, sylviculture, or horticulture use is taxed on per acre rates established by the state land evaluation council for each county rather than the rate per $100 of valuation that applies to other parcels) $832 million, or $4.7 million in deferred revenue. When property in land use is rezoned a “clawback” consisting of the difference between the land use rate and fair market value rate for a number of years before the rezoning applies. Davis said that the acreage in land use fluctuates year over year but is significant.

To hear the complete assessor’s report, go to the county website https://www.goochlandva.us/ click on “watch county meetings” select BoS Feb 3. It begins around the 34-minute mark and is well worth a listen.)

VDOT

These are the times that try the souls of those charged with clearing roads. Philip Frazier, administrator of the Ashland VDOT residency, reported about his agency’s role in snow and ice removal from county roads. VDOT is responsible for snow removal on roads in Goochland that are part of the state system.

He said that on the weekend of January 25, the area received about three inches of snow followed by about eight continuous hours of sleet, which packed the snow down and turned it to ice, or as some are calling it, snowcrete. Blessings to all who battled the mess.

“My team has been on a 13-day venture to brine, pretreat, do snow removal in the midst of the storm and do storm cleanup for about a week,” said Frazier. Minor conditions were established on the interstate and primary road system by noon on January 26. Primary routes, 6,250, 522, were clear by Tuesday, the 27^th.  Secondary roads remained in a moderate condition for an extended amount of time.

Historically prolonged cold temperatures complicated VDOT efforts to make all roads passable. Daytime melting led to overnight freezing that made the ice tighter and harder to treat, explained Frazier. Efforts were shifted to applying abrasives—10 parts sand one part salt—to secondary roads to help provide traction for those trying to get out of subdivisions. Though most VDOT resources were shifted to daytime operations, smaller crews worked overnight treating slick spots to prepare for the morning rush hour.

He said that subdivision roads can still expect to see snowpack, but that VDOT crews will “fight it and push at it as long as its slush” through the weekend.

VDOT forces and hired resources worked wide by side throughout the event and continued to work to clean up the ice pack, said Frazier. Resources include heavy construction equipment including motor graders, tractors, and loaders to deal with the ice.

They are restocking salt and sand in anticipation of more winter forecast later this week. Frazier urged caution when traveling as snow piled on road shoulders that melts during the day will refreeze in the cold and dark to create patches of treacherous black ice. He commended his Goochland maintenance leadership team Mark Harlow, Joe Terry, and Bobby Knight and the “unsung heroes the operators, contractors and all of the folks who have partnered with us and supported the residency in the snow removal operation.”

Frazier thanked Goochland for helping to field calls about road conditions and explain VDOT procedures and pass on folks with concerns and complaints.

The supervisors commended VDOT for its efforts.

Public Engagement

Jessica Kronberg, Director of Strategic Communications, shared highlights of communication activities between July 1 and December 31, 2025, the first half of the current fiscal year.

Mechanisms used to share information about county operations include social media, press releases, media relations, and emergency communications. There were more than 1,000 posts on the county’s main platforms, not including parks and rec and animal protection. Goochland County has pages on Facebook, X, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

These pages direct viewers to the county website https://www.goochlandva.us/ for detailed up to date information about things going on in Goochland. Between July and December, the county website had 1.8 million hits. Kronberg said that it was recently redesigned to improve navigation and continues to be tweaked to increase user satisfaction.

The most searched topics were energov (land use and permitting software), pet adoptions, TOD, GIS, board of supervisors, and dogs.

A weekly newsletter, Goochland at a glance is currently distributed to 194 subscribers with a 76 percent open rate. The county also has mobile apps available at both the Apple and Google Play stores for download to receive push notifications and other alerts. Go to https://goochlandva.us/list.aspx to sign up for delivery to your inbox.

Last year Kronberg collaborated with Director of Emergency Management Robin Hillman, and Paul Drumwright, Community Affairs Manager, to implement a new crisis communication system that as 20 different preapproved, predesigned emergency scenario templates to enable rapid dissemination of information to citizens. “Goochland Alerts Powered by Everbridge”, the system went live on January 16. It was used during the water main break in Lower Tuckahoe to communicate with affected homeowners and to message county employees during weather closings.

Kronberg’s department provides high quality photographs available to media outlets (thank you Jessica!) Strategic Communications maintains displays on the monitors in the administration building, print materials and mailers, and an internal employee newsletter.

An engaged citizenry is vital to good government.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frigid February

 

More winter ahead?

The afternoon session of the Goochland Board of Supervisors’ February 3 meeting found three supervisors physically present. Neil Spoonhower District 2 was absent for a work commitment, but attended the evening session, and Charlie Vaughters, District 4, took time from “professional responsibilities” to attend virtually.

County Administrator Dr. Jeremy Raley, Ed.D. began his remarks by sharing a “debt of gratitude and appreciation for the amazing work of my teammates” for dealing with the dreadful weather conditions that have Goochland under siege. He commended the entire staff, regardless of role, for exceptional teamwork. He cited fire-rescue, the Sheriff’s Office, and animal protection for serving bravely and admirably under challenging conditions.

He cited Emergency Management Coordinator Robin Hillman and Maj. Mike East of the Sheriff’s Office for opening the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and staffing it around the clock. Dispatch, the county nerve center for emergency response, handled many calls and deployed fire-rescue units and personnel to two structure fires.

Jessica Kronberg, Director of Strategic Communications, and Paul Drumwright, Community Affairs Manager, kept citizens informed.

The Department of Social Servies opened a warming shelter and was ready to staff it. Animal protection officers provided water for livestock owners with frozen water sources. Deputies responded to motorists and others in need of assistance.

Raley commended the public utilities staff for responding to a water main break in Lower Tuckahoe in 14-degree weather. They waded into mud to restore service to affected homes before nightfall. During the water main break, Kronberg and Hillman worked with Raley using the new Everbridge emergency communications system to communicate with impacted citizens and even “geofence” specific homes to keep them informed of progress in restoration of their water service.

Consent agenda

Board meetings typically include a consent agenda of “housekeeping” matters that need formal board approval. The February 3 consent agenda included confirmation and termination of the state of emergency declared before the storm and after the last board meeting; change of the date of a joint capital improvement workshop with the school board; and several amendments to the county budget.

Typically, there is brief explanation of items on the consent agenda, after which a bulk vote is taken. A board member will sometimes request an item be removed from the consent agenda for a detailed discussion and separate vote.

One item, a $250,000 supplemental budget appropriation to the “outside counsel” line in the County Attorney’s budget, was pulled out for discussion and a separate vote. The amendment would provide funding for the defense of the county, board of supervisors, and the planning commission in litigation regarding the Technology Overlay District, which was filed and served in December. It is believed that TOD opponents who filed the lawsuit are raising at least $200k for legal fees to bring their suit.

During citizen comment, two residents contended that inclusion of the outside counsel funding in the consent agenda was intended to hide the appropriation from public scrutiny. The expenditure, they said, was a waste of taxpayer dollars because the county has its own attorney to handle litigation and seemed to imply that county attorney and her staff sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting for lawsuits to come in the door.

One speaker also raised suspicions that, because he saw surveyors on land in the TOD, some sort of development is underway there. He needs to keep an eye on the county geographic information system (GIS)  ( “parcel viewer” tab on the county website https://www.goochlandva.us/) that lists all permits issued on parcels, including things like land disturbance and plan of development, which must be completed  before any building can take place.

Jonathan Lyle, District 5, asked that the outside counsel appropriation item be removed from the consent agenda for discussion and action by the board.

County Attorney Tara McGee explained that the role of her office is to provide legal advice to the supervisors, county administration, employees, and departments. Many people, she said, do not understand that operations of a locality like Goochland are governed by many state and federal laws.

For instance, she said, everything that purchasing does “has to be pursuant to very detailed state laws.” Human resources must comply with many federal laws, which adds another layer of process.

“The Freedom of Information Act, a creature of state law, which governs not only how we get together here and notice and invite the public but also requires response to a growing number of requests for documents that your government does business through,” McGee said.

The county attorney provides legal advice with respect to land use, the topic of many public hearings, which is also entirely a state law process.

All proffers and conditions imposed in a rezoning case are subject to legal review to ensure that they are legal and enforceable. After rezoning is approved, said McGee, when a case is going through development, agreements for roads, environmental, storm water, bonds and other sureties are all reviewed by her office.

 “By state law, every contract, every MOU entered by this county has to be reviewed and approved as to form by the county attorney’s office. That takes up a lot of time,” she said.

The county attorney also writes ordinances, which are laws, and reviews every board agenda item for legality and proper procedure. McGee said that the agenda for that day’s meeting involved a great deal of work by her office.

Goochland County, explained McGee, is also involved in litigation in different ways. Violations of land use conditions, proffers, building and fire codes are all enforced by her office.

The county attorney’s office is involved in all defensive litigation against the county or its employees. McGee compared this to someone involved in an auto accident who has insurance. “When they’re defending you, since they’re going to pay the claim, they provide your counsel.”

Goochland, she said, has insurance coverage, whose standard terms for localities in Virginia includes coverage for attorneys who defend against land use litigation claims made against the county. McGee said that Goochland is taking advantage of that coverage because, given its routine workload, her office does not have staffing to support the operations needed for defensive litigation, which involves many hours in a tight time frame not established by clients.

Her office has, however, pulled together the substantial legislative record of the TOD with the assistance of all the departments engaged in it, indexed, and found the records. “It’s been a huge undertaking and that’s how we are supporting the litigation.”

 Her office has meetings on the facts, with which they are intimately familiar to develop strategy with outside counsel “not just because litigation is best done in a strategic manner, but to make sure that the vison of Goochland as a client is heard.”

McGee’s office also provides oversight and liaison between county employees who have the facts and outside counsel.

Files of previous county attorneys, said McGee, indicate that use of outside counsel is a long-standing policy, consistent with localities of Goochland’s size.

She said the request is to deal with an unforeseen expense.

Tom Winfree, District 3, said that the role of county attorney is analogous to that of a general practitioner physician, to keep track of routine matters.  Retention of outside counsel in extraordinary situations is like referral to a specialist.

Lyle thanked McGee for her explanation and hoped that the entire sum after insurance would not be used. “We have a board action that’s being challenged, and this is how the system works. As a litigant, we need to mount a robust detailing of our side of the story.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Witness Tree Challenge

 

Venerable tree on Maidens Road (Goochland County Historical Society image.)

Goochland is blessed with a gracious plenty of trees. In summer, we enjoy their shade, during ice storms we fear their ability to snap power lines and close roads. In autumn, we rake leaves. They form a backdrop to our lives.

Some trees are crops with relatively short lives. Others have been around for generations and bear silent witness to history.

As we approach the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, the Goochland Historical Society is partnering with the Goochland 250 Commission, the Goochland Rotary Club, Goochland Schools, and the Goochland Education Foundation in the “Witness tree challenge” to locate and identify trees that have been in the county since, or even before, our nation was founded.

Go to https://www.exploregoochland.com/187/VA-250-American-Revolution or https://goochlandedu.org/2026/01/15/the-witness-tree-challenge/.

Over the nearly three centuries since its founding and before, trees in Goochland were cut down to clear land for crops, used as firewood, milled to provide lumber to build, and as continues today, grown for industrial use.

There are some trees in Goochland, however, that have stood observing events unfolding around them. The goal of the Witness Tree Challenge is to find and celebrate those venerable trees. As trees add a ring of bark during each growing season, their age can be determined by counting those rings. A forester will drill a small hole in the tree to extract a horizontal core to confirm its age.

All school children, including those in public, private, or home school venues, in the county are encouraged to participate in the following manner:

·         Find a candidate tree. Do not trespass. Obtain permission from landowners. To find out who owns a particular parcel of land go to the wonderfully updated Goochland County GIS site at https://gis.co.goochland.va.us/CivQuest/. (This can be a good way to teach children how to read maps.)

·         Measure the circumference of the tree using a tape measure or piece of twine.

·         Identify the type of tree e.g. oak, sycamore. There are many apps to help with this.

·         Record the location of the tree with street address and with the compass app on a smartphone for precise longitude and latitude.

·         Take a photo of the tree.

·         Submit this information to nominate a tree at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfDPPJ-8317zc0f9zO5fuiv2EqvO06-5PamyopQjFuXtHDeWQ/viewform

Submissions must be made by March 1, 2026.

The Witness Tree Committee will evaluate nominations and select the most likely candidates. Metal tags will be placed on trees recording their age and discovered.

Students who successfully identify a Witness Tree at least 250 years old will be honored at a Board of Supervisors’ meeting and at a special recognition event on Arbor Day April 24. On that day they will plant a tree in hopes that it will bear witness to the next two hundred and fifty years of our Republic.

Contact Witnesstree@goochlandhistory.org with questions.

 

 

 

 

Firefly virtual town hall

 Firefly Fiber Broadband is holding a Virtual Town Hall on Tuesday, February 3rd at 4 PM for the RISE Project George’s Tavern service zone to learn more about Firefly, ask questions, and find out how you can sign up for service. Firefly’s RISE Project George’s Tavern service zone include Goochland residents served by Dominion Energy who live in the Southwestern area of Goochland as shown on the maps at https://www.fireflyva.com/dominion-energy-rise-goochland-georges-tavern/.  

Residents in this area should register online at https://www.fireflyva.com/town-halls/, there is an option to attend online or by phone.  A recording of the Virtual Town Hall will be made available to those who register. 

Goochland County understands that not all residents can attend the town hall virtually, and as such the County will offer the opportunity to watch it at the County Administration Building.  It will be live streamed in Conference Room 234 in the County Administration Building located at 1800 Sandy Hook Road, Goochland, VA 23063.   Residents are encouraged to still register online at https://www.fireflyva.com/town-halls/.  

It's important for interested residents in the Firefly Fiber Broadband project areas register for service at https://register.fireflyva.com/.  Residents can find the latest information for Firefly Fiber Broadband’s projects in Goochland at https://www.fireflyva.com/partners-goochland/.  

About public safety

On this frigid day when travel is still treacherous, let us offer prayers for those tasked with providing law enforcement and fire-rescue service to our community no matter what Mother Nature throws their way.

During last Tuesday’s budget workshop, Sheriff Steven Creasey and Fire-Rescue and Emergency Management Chief D. E. “Eddie” Ferguson, Jr., discussed the functions, needs, and challenges faced by their respective agencies.

Fire-Rescue and Emergency Management is an all-hazard agency that responds to a wide range of situations including EMS calls, weather related incidents, fires, smoke alarm activation, and motor vehicle incidents on all county roads and I64 and Rt. 288 where wrecks have become more frequent and complex.

Ferguson thanked the supervisors for their support of his department and commended County Administrator Jeremy Raley for implementing a five-year strategic plan to spread anticipated costs over several budget seasons.

Goochland Fire-Rescue responded to 5,181calls in in calendar 2025, a year over year increase of 6.1 percent, up from 3,843 in 2021. Of those, the vast majority, 3,356 were EMS related.

Resources—people and equipment—needed to respond to those calls are not equal. A “routine” EMS call from Avery Point might require a single ambulance. A multi-vehicle wreck on I-64 could require people and apparatus from several stations and take many hours to resolve, preventing those resources from responding to other calls. Increased “wall time,” waiting for a patient bed, at area emergency departments also keeps ambulances out of the county for extended periods further reducing assets available to respond to other calls.

Goochland, like most Virginia jurisdictions, has a cost recovery policy for ambulance transports, which generates about $1.2 million annually that goes into the general fund.  The county uses a compassionate “soft billing” policy that does not pursue payment and writes off the unpaid amount, which Ferguson estimated in 2025 was $700k. He explained that Medicare and Medicaid have set transport reimbursement rates. This does not cover the cost of providing EMS.

When asked about the large number of EMS calls generated by Avery Point, the continuing care retirement community in West Creek, Ferguson said “Avery Point is a community within a community of senior citizens and we’re going to do our best to serve them. The citizens there could not be more supportive of fire-rescue.”

Ferguson explained how resources from the county’s seven fire-rescue stations move around to provide coverage when units are busy elsewhere to illustrate the need for more career positions. ((go to https://goochlandva.new.swagit.com/videos/372758 at about the 1.07 minute mark)   “Company 3 in Centerville is just about maxed out,” said Ferguson alluding to its 2,004 responses in 2025. All other companies support Centerville. The need for the West Creek fire-rescue station on Hockett Road “just hits you in the face,” said Tom Winfree, District 3 when shown the statistics.  The Eli Lilly facility will be in the Manakin Company 1 “first due” area, which already handles the southeast part of Goochland. The West Creek Station will better distribute the already heavy workload shared by Centerville and Manakin.

Fire-Rescue Station call response (Goochland County image)

The addition of a single ambulance at Sandy Hook Station 8, hopefully soon to be under construction, has had a positive impact on response time in the center of the county.

Ferguson went on to discuss the need for an additional 55 career fire-rescue positions in the next five years, which translates into 15 per station. That would supply two people on an ambulance and three on an engine.

This staffing level would increase efficiency and provide a “relief factor” to ensure adequate staffing so employees can take vacation, sick time, train, and handle light duty when recovering from illness or injury. That would be one for every six firefighters. Board Chair Jonathan Christy, District 1, said that the relief factor is critical for retainment and mitigates employee burnout.

Ferguson said that higher staffing levels would also deal with walk-ins who go to a station for help to find no one there to help them.

Board Vice Chair Neil Spoonhower, District 2, said that the discussion highlighted the need for commercial rather than residential development to fund these operational requests, anticipate growth, and keep the county rural.

Ferguson contended that his job is to explain the needs of his department to the supervisors and it’s up to them to decide what can be funded. The entire leadership team of fire-rescue was present, including Sheriff Creasey and Chief Deputy Major Mike East, both fire-rescue volunteer life members.

Charlie Vaughters, District 4 raised concerns about the county’s repeated deferral of capital expenditures and maintenance. He said that that county needs to be proactive to make sure resources to support economic development are in place sooner than later.

Sheriff’s Office

Creasey began his remarks by acknowledging the challenges facing fire-rescue. “As many of you know, my childhood home burned down when my mother was in the hospital with Covid and passed a year later. I can tell you how it feels personally when you watch the fire department run out of water and watch your house burn to the ground. I’m not saying the fire department did anything wrong that night. I’ve been a volunteer for over 30 years and know the problem was manpower and not being able to get trucks there with water. Just put yourself in someone else’s shoes when you do make that decision on the number of people fire-rescue needs. I support them 100 percent but know firsthand about losing something that meant so much to my family.”

Calls to the Sheriff’s Office, which is Goochland’s primary law enforcement agency, increased 7.7 percent from the previous year.  Dispatch, which is a part of his agency, answered 40,618 Sheriff’s Office calls service in 2025. It also handles many other calls for fire-rescue, animal protection, and other matters, all of which require the time and attention of the communications officers.

 

Goochland Communications where all emergency response begins (Goochland County Image)

For the coming fiscal year, the Sheriff is requesting two additional communications officer positions, two in FY28 and one each for the next three fiscal years to keep up with expected growth in calls for service.

Creasey and East discussed the need for an information technology director position to oversee the law enforcement specific technology that must function 24/7 without interruption. This includes more than 30 applications/ systems that require frequent updates and monitoring.

Given the complicated skill set needed to be a communications officer, it could take at least a year for new hires to be ready to function on their own. All Goochland communications officers are trained in emergency medical dispatch, which enables them provide aid until EMS arrives.

East, who is the de facto Sheriff IT director, explained that public safety hardware and software is specialized and unique. It must work 24/7 because LEOs on the street depend on it. “There’ve been many times when I’ve gotten a call at two in the morning to get the computer aided dispatch back online.” The time he devotes to technology, said East, takes him away from other duties including investigation.

In later fiscal years, the Sheriff is requesting additional court security and bailiffs to staff the new courthouse. He repeated the need to fund a communications tower for the northeast quadrant of the county that was discussed at the December 19 capital improvement plan workshop.

Staffing in relation to growth is an ongoing challenge. Creasey said that he has never been asked if rezoning applications require additional law enforcement resources. Perhaps “fiscal impact” statements in rezoning application should have input from the Sheriff and Fire-Rescue Chief about needed resources.

Unfunded mandates for things like training from the General Assembly are a perennial budget issue. Of particular concern to the Sheriff this is year is legislation that would curtail qualified immunity for law enforcement. “We would lose a lot of people if that went away,” Creasey said.

Excellence in public safety requires an adequate number of highly trained people equipped with the best tools who are well compensated and appreciated. It is up to the supervisors to pay the bills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where the money comes from

People came to Goochland from all over Virginia for DMV Select Services in the Covid summer of 2020

In Virginia, localities like Goochland County must operate with balanced budgets—expenses must equal revenue. Crafting a balanced budget, even for a relatively small county, is a complicated task.

During a budget work session held on the evening of January 20, County Administrator Dr. Jeremy Raley, Ed. D., and the board of supervisors delved into complexities of the budget process. (Thanks to the excellent work of Dan Stowers and the information technology department, the meeting was recorded and is archived at https://goochlandva.new.swagit.com/videos/372758.)

For the first time in recent memory, county administration discussed funding mechanisms and revenue streams in a public setting. This is another example of Raley’s pledge to improve transparency.

Goochland, Raley explained, assesses property and sets tax rates on a calendar year basis, but budgets on a fiscal year that runs from July 1 to June 30. Real estate and personal property taxes are collected in June and December, in two different fiscal years. He characterized the budget as a “spending plan”. The budget process has been ongoing for many months, he said, when all departments and agencies share their needs. He thanked Treasurer Pam Duncan, Assessor Mary Anne Davis, and interim finance director Dave Wilson for their collaboration in the process.

He gave a special shout out to Commissioner of the Revenue Jennnifer Brown and her staff. Not only does this office provide excellent service to Goochland citizens, but to anyone who needs DMV services. Indeed, during the Covid shut down, Goochland DMV Select, which is part of Brown’s office, was one of the few in the Commonwealth that remained open serving all comers. DMV select processes “a significant number of transactions” which generates reimbursement from the Department of Motor Vehicles, more than $400k in FY25.

As 2026 dawned the focus shifted to identifying revenue streams to use taxpayer dollars and make good decisions to carry out strategic goals and initiatives.

The budget for FY27, which begins next July 1, looks 18 months ahead to forecast available revenue to pay county bills.

The Goochland Assessor’s Office values residential and commercial property. Its “heavy lift” is done from July through December including in person visits to properties, looking at sales and a variety of factors to determine, as closely as possible, fair market value. Calendar year 2026 assessments were mailed on January 15. These will be used to calculate property taxes after tax rates are set by the supervisors in April. First half tax bills are mailed in May and due on June 5.

Those taxes will be collected in the current fiscal year, whose budget was approved in April 2025. Taxes generated by personal property, machines, and tools are a significant revenue stream. The Commissioner of the Revenue determines the value of those assets in the county as of January 1. That is the number used in crafting the budget for the next fiscal year. However, said Raley, this amount fluctuates throughout the year as vehicles move in and out of the county. Those values are updated on the 15^th of every month. The constant churn complicates forecasting the amount of that revenue stream.

Raley said that a three percent increase in real estate values on January 2026 was used in the FY26 budget, which translated into an estimated tax revenue of $52.4 million.  Revenue collected as of December 31, 2025, the first half of FY26 was $23,870,490. Projected collections by June 30, 2026, using those same numbers are $26,942,913 for a total of $50,813, 403, a shortfall of $1,586, 597. However, the actual increase in January 2026 property values was $10.3 billion, eight percent more than projected. Using the 53-cent tax rate this translates into $54.4 million for the FY27 budget. For the first half of 2026, this is estimated at $27,734,705, for an FY 26 total of $54,402,690.

The assessor’s team, said Raley, is predicting an increase next year of at least four percent. However, unknown factors, including an economic slowdown, could reduce that. He said that projects under construction are added to the tax rolls when certificates of occupancy are issued. For calendar 2026, this could include the Honda dealership on Broad Street Road and other commercial projects, which could significantly increase actual collections. Without a crystal ball, forecasting can be complicated and frustrating.

As much of the rise in assessed valuations is driven by new construction in the Tuckahoe Creek Service District, it was pointed out that, in addition to paying a 32 cent per $100 ad valorem tax, 55 percent of tax increase on properties there also goes to service the debt that created the district in 2002. All real estate tax collected from land outside the TCSD goes to the county general fund.

Tom Winfree District 3 said “basically the county is forking over 55 percent of the normal real estate taxes collected on the properties in the TCSD. TCSD keeps all the ad valorem tax and 55 percent of the 53 cents per 100 that we collect so we can keep 45 percent for general services. We’re not keeping the full 53 cents. The rest of the taxpayers are not benefitting as much. If you look at it another way, the citizens in the TCSD are only taking up 45 percent of their weight in the general running of the county because the rest of it is going to pay off the bonds.”

Wilson said that the 55 percent TCSD revenue sharing is treated as a negative and subtracted from projected totals.

County Attorney Tara McGee said that the arrangement is not a policy decision made by this board but was pledged by the bond documents in 2002 in order to get the bonds approved. It is a pledge of revenue to support the issuance of the bonds and cannot be rescinded.

 “We get asked the question why can’t we make adjustments to the ad valorem tax and change it on specific case situations, but when it goes into an indenture, the life of that indenture, because bonds are sold to institutions, to other places outside of Goochland County, we can’t go changing any of those rules. They are in a contract as any other bond. I know it is a point of frustration for a lot of people; this goes back 20 years. This is a bond issuance that we can’t unlock or amend, which is why we want to pay it down sooner than later,” said Charlie Vaughters, District 4.

Pencils will be sharpened in coming months to build a FY27 budget. Stay tuned.