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Windsor Town Manager William Saunders shared fiscal year 2025 Windsor General Fund revenue projections with the Town Council on Feb. 11, projecting to end the year with an $84,276 surplus.

The sharing of these projections is a scheduled event on the budget calendar. Saunders noted in a Feb. 11 memo to the mayor and Town Council that town staff will continue to update the projection data as the fiscal year progresses, and the data will be used to help determine revenues for the town’s FY26 budget.

“I have attached a copy of the year-end revenue projections for the General Fund,” he stated in the memo. 

The projections spreadsheet runs from July 2024 through August 2025. The fiscal year ends in June 2025.

“The numbers for January and all previous months are actual numbers,” Saunders stated, helping explain the spreadsheet. “The numbers for February through June are estimates based off historical data, trends and assumptions (July and August are also included, even though they are outside of FY25 to show revenues to be rolled back).”

Following are a few of the largest variances listed on the spreadsheet when comparing a projected total with the budgeted amount.

The Taxes on Personal Property (Motor Vehicle) line shows a $44,064 shortfall, but Saunders explained that personal property taxes actually encompass four lines on the spreadsheet, each highlighted in blue, and they should be added up together to properly determine the projected total. 

Adding together the motor vehicle line with the lines for boats, equipment, and machinery and tools, the projected total becomes $145,226. Compared to the budgeted amount of $165,000 this represents a much smaller $19,774 shortfall.

“Some of this ends up being in collections in future years, every year, unfortunately,” Saunders said.

The largest surplus listed on the spreadsheet is $40,834 for the Local Sales and Use Tax line, projecting $200,834 received compared to the budgeted amount of $160,000. A note for this line indicates that July and August 2025 amounts roll back into FY25.

The second-largest surplus listed is $40,419 for the Interest Earned line, projecting $135,419 received compared to the budgeted amount of $95,000.

“That’s showing a surplus over our estimates due to the rates and the VIP,” Saunders said.

Nothing was budgeted for the Other Miscellaneous Revenues line, but $24,071 is projected.

The Consumer Utility Taxes line shows a $21,636 shortfall, projecting $73,364 compared to the budgeted amount of $95,000. A note for this line indicates July 2025 rolls back.

The same note exists for the Consumption Tax line, which features a projected total of $6,092 and no budgeted amount.

“Consumer utility taxes and consumption taxes, these have been trending lower over time, and that’s not a surprise,” Saunders said.

The Cigarette Tax line shows a $16,000 shortfall, with $84,000 projected compared to $100,000 budgeted.

Following Saunders’ presentation, Windsor Mayor George Stubbs posed a question related to the cigarette tax.

“There’s no change been made about being able to tax vape shops and the products that are sold there?” he said. “Has any of that changed?”

Saunders said, “I understand there was a bill put forward to tax nicotine vapes, but I honestly can’t tell you at the moment whether that’s made it through committees to the floor or not, but I know there was a bill this year.”

Windsor Vice Mayor J. Randy Carr said, “But are we collecting sales tax from them, vape shops?”

“It would be like our cigarette tax stamps, I assume it would be set up that way,” Saunders said. “But it’s just interesting that you can tax cigarettes but not nicotine vapes. Cigarettes are kind of dying off, nicotine vapes are growing. But like I say, there was a bill put forth this year in the General Assembly for localities to be able to tax vapes similarly…” 

Councilman David Adams said, “I’ve seen a couple of bills going through the General Assembly that deal with accessory dwelling units. I know the Virginia Municipal League has been reporting on that. If that passes, how do those get taxed? Do they get taxed under real property?”

Saunders said, “The county would assess the increased value of the property based on whether they have an accessory apartment or not, and that would come out in our real estate tax.”

The full Windsor FY25 General Fund Revenue Projections presentation is available online at www.windsor-va.gov/page/2025-town-council-agendas-and-minutes/ under the “February 11, 2025 Meeting” heading at the link titled “FY25 Revenue Projections.”