eNews – May 23, 2025
Register for the Small Towns Conference before it sells out, Help us identify federal grants in jeopardy, General fund revenues showing weakness...and more!
Friday, May 23, 2025/Categories: eNews
This edition of eNews is sponsored by Timmons Group, providing civil engineering, structural, environmental, electrical, geotechnical, GIS/ geospatial technology, landscape architecture and surveying services to a diverse client base. Learn more >.
In this issue:
VML News
Finance
Transportation
Opportunities
VML News
Space is running out! Register for the Small Towns Conference happening in 
Farmville June 5-6.
It doesn’t matter how small – or how big – your town is, VML and Virginia Tech invite officials and staff from towns of all sizes to join us on the campus of Longwood University in Farmville on Thursday, June 5 and Friday, June 6 for the 2025 Small Towns Conference.
If you’ve been putting it off, please consider completing your registration as soon as possible as space is limited and filling up!
Register here >.
Program
A final agenda with individual session details will be posted prior to the event. However, for those already registered or considering registration please know that you can expect to hear from experts on a variety of town-centric topics, including:
- Remarks from 50th District Delegate Thomas C. Wright
- Making the Most of Economic Development Opportunities
- Helpful Hints for Working with VDOT on Local Projects
- An Introduction to the National League of Cities’ Small Town Program (Fun Fact: June is NLC's "Small Cities Month")
- LED Streetlight Conversions for Towns
- Water & Wastewater Considerations for Towns
- Housing Resources Available to Towns
- Emergency Management & Disaster Preparedness
- …and much more!
Schedule
Not including breaks, the schedule for the event runs as follows:
Thursday, June 5:
- 8:30 – 9:00 AM – Continental Breakfast & Registration
- 9:00 – 10:00 AM – Opening Remarks and “Town Stories” Networking
- 10:00 – 11:45 AM – Program
- 11:45 AM – 12:45 PM – Lunch
- 12:45 – 4:00 PM – Program
- 5:00 – 6:30 PM – Reception on the Hotel Weyanoke’s Catbird Rooftop Terrace
Friday, June 6:
- 8:30 – 9:00 AM – Full Breakfast
- 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Program
Additional details and registration are available on VML’s website here >.
VML Contact: Rob Bullington, rbullington@vml.org
Please let us know about Federal grant funds being modified or eliminated in your locality
Almost every day, we hear about a federal grant that is being withheld, reduced, or eliminated. Although they originate at the federal level, these grants flow to local governments and community partners either directly or indirectly through state agencies. Unfortunately, no one in the Commonwealth appears to be tracking these decisions or the effects they are having on our communities.
The Virginia Municipal League, in partnership with Virginia Tech, is conducting a survey to allow local governments to provide real-time, specific information about grants that have been modified or eliminated.
Your participation is greatly appreciated!
Complete the survey here >.
Virginia Tech Contact: Stephanie Davis, sddavis@vt.edu.
VML now accepting 2025 Innovation Awards submissions
The Virginia Municipal League’s Innovation Awards celebrate the programs and individuals that make it possible for our local governments to solve pressing problems, address emerging needs, and adapt to changing circumstances.
Local governments of all sizes are encouraged to compete for coveted Innovation Awards across seven categories. The entries will be judged based on the scope and results of the project in relation to the community’s size, thereby putting all localities on a level playing field.
One of the seven category winners will be selected for the prestigious President’s Award for Innovation. The winner of the President’s Award will be revealed when all the award winners are honored during the Awards Banquet at the VML Annual Conference in Roanoke in October.
Don’t miss this premiere opportunity to spotlight innovative programs that make your town, city or county a great place for people to call home!
Learn more and download the entry form on VML’s website here >.
VML Contact: Manuel Timbreza, mtimbreza@vml.org
Help determine federal tax-exempt properties in Virginia localities
The Virginia Municipal League, in conjunction with the City of Norfolk, is working to gather a comprehensive overview of the tax-exempt status of federal properties in Virginia's localities. We would very much appreciate your locality completing a brief survey (about 2 minutes) to let us know if you have any federal tax-exempt properties and, if so, the reason for the tax-exempt status.
Please complete the survey here >.
Thank you for your assistance!
VML Contact: Rob Bullington, rbullington@vml.org
Finance
General fund revenues continue to show signs of weakness
Earlier this week, the House Appropriations (HAC) and Senate Finance & Appropriations (SFAC) Committees kicked off their fiscal oversight of the Commonwealth’s revenues and state agency operations in Richmond and Alexandria, respectively.
But all eyes were on Secretary of Finance Stephen Cummings as he provided the latest monthly update on general fund revenues through April 2025 amid increasing economic uncertainty. The Secretary highlighted the fact that general fund revenues are up 8.8 percent compared to April of last year. While interesting, the more meaningful barometer is how well revenues are holding up compared to the current forecast upon which the 2024-26 biennial budget is based. Why? Because revenue deviations from that measure dictate whether we’re looking at a future surplus or deficit.
As it stands, the Secretary believes that we may be headed for a slight surplus. Through April, however, we’re simply treading water. Year-to-date revenues are ahead of the forecast by 0.8 percent or $211.1 million through April 2025, barely keeping pace with projections for the current fiscal year. Secretary Cummings pointed out that revenue can decline in the last two months of the fiscal year by 4.7 percent, and we’d still meet the current forecast.
While positive revenue growth is obviously better than negative, it is concerning that we’re barely staying afloat as federal budget cuts to health care, education, childcare, and food assistance programs are beginning to take shape. Significant spending reductions in these areas will put additional pressure on the Governor and lawmakers to preserve access to these services, which explains why Governor Youngkin pushed to create an additional balance of $900 million in one-time funds to potentially counteract those changes.
Of equal concern, year-to-date revenues from individual income tax withholding (i.e., wages and salaries) and sales taxes, have fallen 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively through April 2025. These two categories of general fund revenue are often considered the “bread and butter” of the Commonwealth’s revenues and they’re anemic growth raises concerns about the strength of the economy going forward.
Masking year-to-date growth in general fund revenues compared to the forecast was individual income tax withholdings from estimated payments and capital gains that came in strong and were up 9.9 percent or $525 million compared to the forecast.
To his credit, Secretary Cummings continues to highlight uncertainties in the economy where they exist. Greater clarity in the days ahead will help inform the fiscal paths ahead.
VML Contact: Joe Flores, jflores@vml.org
General Assembly’s federal oversight committees convene regional hearings
In the last two weeks, the House’s Emergency Committee on the Impacts of Federal Workforce and Funding Reductions and the Senate Finance and Appropriations’ Special Subcommittee on Federal Impacts to Resources met to conduct oversight of the impact of federal decisions on the Commonwealth.
On May 12 the House convened in Wytheville to discuss the consequences of federal actions on rural communities. Ten of the twelve members of the committee were present to hear presentations that covered topics from health care, economic development, tourism, agriculture and food banks.
Potential reductions to Medicaid and the impact on rural communities were discussed by Cheryl Roberts, Virginia’s Medicaid Director, Jennifer Tolbert, Deputy Director of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured and Don Halliwell, Chief Financial Officer for Carilion Clinic, a major health care provider along the I-81 corridor. While Ms. Roberts indicated that Medicaid appeared to have avoided the most draconian spending reduction proposals, details were still emerging as she was briefing the committee on Monday morning. Mr. Halliwell explained that potential reductions in federal funding would likely translate to:
- The reduction or elimination of access to care and services, causing hardships for patients
- Fewer employees hired, potentially affecting retention, recruitment, and ability to provide care
- Decreased reinvestments in medical care, community health, medical and nursing education, research and innovation; and
- Higher costs through commercial insurance contract negotiation.
Jason El-Koubi, President and CEO for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership argued that the Commonwealth is well-positioned to weather possible changes coming down from Washington, D.C., while representatives from Virginia’s tourism industry indicated that they’ve yet to see significant changes in the tourism industry to date.
Turning to Virginia’s agriculture industry, Brad Copenhaver from Meadowview Strategies, provided a primer on Virginia’s agriculture economy and the potential impact of federal changes while Jason Grant, from Virginia Tech’s Center for Agricultural Trade zeroed in on the impact on agriculture we might see with recent trade policy decisions. Finally, the Committee heard presentations on the current state of food insecurity in southwest Virginia and how that is starting to change with recent federal funding decisions.
Presentations from the House’s Wytheville meeting can be found here >.
On Monday of this week, five of six members of the SFAC’s subcommittee met in Alexandria to hear presentations on the impact of federal changes on the Commonwealth. Robert McNab, from Old Dominion University kicked off the Senate’s discussion by highlighting “Economic Conditions in Virginia and the United States.” His comprehensive presentation noted trends in GDP, employment, job openings, inflation, consumer uncertainty, and what the impact of changes might mean for the Commonwealth.
Austin Reid, Federal Affairs Advisor, National Conference of State Legislatures provided an explanation of federal budget reconciliation process being used to make changes to the tax code and impose spending modifications as well as the fiscal impact of federal education policy actions. Finally, SFAC staff provided an overview of federal funding for state agencies and actions taken during the 2025 Session to monitor those changes.
A link to the SFAC presentations can be found here >.
VML Contact: Joe Flores, jflores@vml.org
Transportation
CTB approves nearly $1 billion in new transportation projects
At its meeting in Danville this week, the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) approved 53 new construction projects totaling $983 million in state funding through Round 6 of Virginia’s biannual transportation process known as SMART Scale. The updated Six Year Improvement Program of which SMART Scale funding is one component alongside maintenance and operational budgets for Virginia’s transportation departments and agencies is expected to receive final approval when the CTB meets June 24-25 in Richmond.
This is the sixth round of SMART Scale since Virginia adopted the process. SMART Scale evaluates and funds transportation projects based on the ranking and scoring of project costs and benefits. The evaluation criteria include safety, congestion, economic development, accessibility, environment, and land which are then weighted by regional needs across the 9 VDOT construction districts. Projects are scored using these criteria and then ranked to determine each project’s relative benefit. This round of SMART Scale scored 271 projects with 53 included for funding; this is the lowest number of projects selected for funding of any SMART Scale round while the average funding per application has almost doubled with the approved projects receiving an average of $18.5 million. This is not surprising given that increased funding per project was a goal of the current Commonwealth Transportation Board for this round.
Most of the approved projects in Round 6 were funded with more than $670 million from the District Grant Program. Projects of statewide or regional significance received $380 million in funding through the High Priority Projects fund.
The list of projects included for funding in Round 6 can be found on attachment B (pages 8-9) of the approved resolution. Four regions received no funding through High Priority Projects which is statutorily reserved for projects of “regional or statewide significance”. The Presentation on Round 6 from this week’s CTB meeting can be found here >.
VML Contact: Mitchell Smiley, msmiley@vml.org
Opportunities
Consider signing letter to Congress to preserve CDBD and HOME for local governments
While you have undoubtedly heard many things about the “One Big Beautiful Bill” act currently being considered by Congress, you may not have heard that the budget proposal asks Congress to eliminate the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) and the HOME Investment Partnership Program, both of which are direct federal funding to local governments.
The National League of Cities (NLC), the National Association of Counties, and the US Conference of Mayors are working together on a letter that any local elected official can sign urging full funding for CDBG and HOME in FY 2026. Appropriations Committee Members will use this letter to make the case for ongoing funding for CDBG and HOME. The letter and link for local elected officials to add their name are below. The immediate deadline to sign was Friday, May 23 for the initial send to Committee leadership, but the window for adding names will remain open until July when the Appropriations Committee has scheduled consideration and mark-up of the Transportation-Housing spending bill.
NOTE: As of 4:00 PM on May 23 the link to sign the letter was no longer working. However, a new link will be added here as soon as it is available. Please check back in the coming week.
[begin letter]
Dear Chair Collins, Vice Chair Murray, Chairman Cole, Ranking Member DeLauro, Chair Hyde-Smith, Ranking Member Gillibrand, Chairman Womack, and Ranking Member Clyburn:
We, the undersigned elected officials from across the nation, urge you to fully fund HUD's grant programs that support housing supply and development at the local level. Specifically, we ask you to preserve funding for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) programs.
For over 50 years, the CDBG program has provided flexible funding to urban, suburban, and rural communities to address housing and community development need in ways tailored to each community. Every state has benefited from CDBG funds, and over 1,200 state and local governments currently receive annual CDBG funding directly. Since FY05, CDBG has accomplished the following: provided safe and affordable housing to over 2.1 million households, supported public infrastructure serving nearly 59 million people nationwide, and created/retained 581,495 jobs through economic development activities.
The HOME program is also one of the most effective and flexible tools available to states and localities to address housing supply shortages and improve housing affordability. Through HOME, local governments are building, buying, and rehabilitating housing for rent or homeownership, as well as funding direct rental assistance to low-income individuals. Since 1992, HOME has built and preserved more than 1.39 million affordable homes and provided rental assistance to over 404,000 families.
We understand the subcommittee must make difficult decisions. However, we urge you to reject proposals to eliminate federal support of these programs and instead maintain at least level funding with FY25. CDBG and HOME are proven programs that are critical to meeting the needs of local communities.
[end letter]
NLC Contact: Michael Wallace, wallace@nlc.or