The York County Board of Supervisors has agreed to begin preliminary discussions on the dredging of Lambs Creek in Tabb.
Spearheaded by residents in the area that surrounds the creek — and introduced by Chairman Tom Shepperd — the dredging of Lambs Creek would involve extracting buildups of material in the waterways to improve water flow.
The creek has not been dredged in more than 40 years, Shepperd said at the board’s annual retreat Friday.
“It’s pretty much a mudflat during low tide,” he said, adding there was a “large demand” by the residents for dredging to occur.
The board discussed dredging at its retreat in 2013, but the issue never came to fruition.
Interim County Administrator Mark Carter used Virginia Beach as a model for a successful dredging project, explaining the city dredged its waterways in three cycles over several years.
Although the numbers are preliminary, Carter said a project such as dredging Lambs Creek would take about four years — from design to execution — and would cost about $2.1 million.
He presented three ways to fund the project: through general tax dollars, by way of grants or through a special service district.
Carter explained the first two funding options were “highly unlikely” and suggested supervisors look instead to the special service district, which would require raising the real estate taxes of those directly affected by the dredging — the citizens living along the creek.
Those affected include Poquoson citizens, who share the creek with York County residents.
Although preliminary discussions with Poquoson’s mayor and city manager have already occurred, supervisors agreed at their retreat Friday their first step was to formally get Poquoson on board with the project.
The next step would be surveying interested citizens on both of the county and city side. The supervisors agreed at least 80 percent of citizens needed to express interest in the project before formally proceeding with any kind of design work.
“The idea is to frame this in the sense that this is kind of our test,” Shepperd said, calling Lambs Creek a “pilot” project.
Supervisors also heard a presentation on the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2016 as well as a budget forecast of the next five years.
Carter said the numbers for the upcoming budget are still uncertain. He predicts about $150,000 decrease in state funding, and anticipates about $630,000 in new revenue from the county.
“It’s very early in the process,” Carter said.
Employee compensation, the school board’s budget, the Capital Improvement Plan, state actions and their effects, and increases for current services and programs are still uncertain, Carter said.
The county is primarily funded by real estate taxes, and Deputy County Administrator Vivian McGettigan projected a 1 percent revenue growth from real estate each year for the next five years, with a general fund growth of about .08 percent over five years.
In fiscal year 2016, which begins July 1, a $700,000 decrease in real estate revenue is projected because last year’s budget projects were too high, McGettigan said.
The Board of Supervisors will spend the next few months working on the budget.
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