Highland County Officials Consider Creating New Financial Director Position

Highland County officials appear to be warming to creating a new financial director position, but just how that position will be funded is still undecided.

The brainchild to create the position was Jayson Wilfong, the former County School Board Chairman, who suggested the county create the position during a Board of Supervisors’ meeting last July.

At that time, the county was looking down the barrel of a $1.1 million matching grant shortfall and state school officials were demanding repayment.

Wilfong, who was updating supervisors on the shortfall, was also in midst of trying to hire a new superintendent after former County Schools Superintendent Dr. Drew Maerz retired days before he was to renew his contract.

Because the county school system has no financial director like other neighboring school systems, Wilfong suggested that the county and the schools could share the expertise of the financial director and split the cost to fund the position.

Last fall, the school matching grant shortfall, reportedly caused by coding errors, was reduced after county school officials reworked and resubmitted their 2024 annual financial report to state education budget officials. The shortfall fell to $687,617.50 and repayment to the state still was expected.

On Nov. 19, county supervisors voted to cover the shortfall cost after Wilfong said state law allows the school system to ask the Virginia Secretary of Education to repay the school system 75 percent, or $515,700, of the total owed. Those funds must be used for school capital improvements.

If the repayment is granted, the county would still be out $167,110.44.

To pay off the shortfall, supervisors withdrew the total amount owed to the state from the school system’s capital improvement fund. The county also withdrew from a reserve account holding $254,949 in end of school year unappropriated funds to cover the $167,110.44 the county owed.

While all of this was going on with the schools, there was trouble brewing on the county government side.

Supervisors were unable to vote on the county FY2025 fiscal-close out. Highland County Treasurer Christy Harper reported she unable to run her closeout financial report, citing software issues and coding errors. The treasurer’s report is usually submitted on or around July1.

After working with the county’s contracted software company’s auditor, Harper says she hopes the problem is resolved. And, as she has done in the past, Harper blames herself in part, explaining some data was not entered at the appropriate time, preventing the system from running the year end close out.

Harper added she supports the possibility of the county hiring a financial director, which her office can turn to when questions arise.

And, the topic of a financial director popped up at the Jan. 15^th school board meeting, even though it was not an agenda item.

As school board members discussed increased costs associated with a new teacher pay scale, newly elected Board Chairman Sherry Sullenberger said she was not keen on spending another $100,000 in salary and benefits for a financial director.

Superintendent Nick Nycum explained the cost for a financial director could be covered by state Standards of Quality school grants. Nycum noted, however, that he still is in talks with county officials to determine funding possibilities and how the financial director would be shared between the school and the county.

Both the financial director proposal and a public hearing on the 2024-25 year-end budget close out are agenda items for the supervisors’ next monthly meeting set for Feb. 3.