BERGTON, Va. (ROCKTOWN NOW) – The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors introduced the county’s proposed FY25 budget with a public hearing on Wednesday night.

If adopted, the total funds in next year’s proposed budget would come out to more than $592 million. The general fund and school operating fund make up the majority of the budget as it was presented Wednesday night.

A cigarette tax that would add 40 cents to every pack sold in the county was also proposed. If approved with the rest of the budget, the tax could generate $150,000 in revenue in the first year, according to the budget proposal.

The proposed budget also shows a near 20% increase in general fund revenue, which will mostly pull from reserves to pay for single-occasion projects. County Administrator Stephen King, who presented the proposed budget, compared that reserve to a personal savings account.

“The fund reserves are used for one-time expenses – think of your savings account, you don’t want to use that for more-than-once expenses,” King explained.

Instead of convening in their usual venue at the Rockingham County Administration building, the board ventured out to the far-western edge of the county and held the meeting at the Bergton Community Center. A few dozen people, most of them Bergton residents, attended the meeting.

The board is expected to vote on the proposed budget at their next meeting on April 24.