By Miles Layton

PLYMOUTH — Jonathan B. Sawyer IV, a 26-year-old Republican and lifelong Washington County resident, is running for the At-Large seat on the Board of Commissioners. He says the county must grow its tax base and stop drawing down its savings.

Sawyer sat down with the Albemarle Observer to discuss his candidacy and provided written answers to questions about county priorities and the budget — some of which were published in the Roanoke Beacon, Washington County’s trusted news source. His opponent is Melinda Porter, a Democrat.

The Board of Commissioners has four district members and one At-Large member who represents the whole county. The general election is Nov. 3 and early voting started Thursday morning.

“I’m running because I believe in responsible leadership, long-term planning, and protecting the future of this county for the next generation,” Sawyer said.

Sawyer said he has lived in Washington County his entire life. “This is home,” he said.

He cited service through the fire department, his church, civic groups and the business community. “I’ve seen how county decisions directly affect infrastructure, public safety, economic development, and families,” he said.

He is active in his church, where he serves as a deacon at Zion’s Chapel Church of Christ. He has a Blue Heeler.

Sawyer is operations manager at Sadler Landscaping, where he oversees construction projects and estimating.

“I manage multimillion-dollar projects and the people who build them,” he said. “I know how to stretch a budget and make every dollar count.”

He said that experience carries over directly to county government. “My role involves budgeting, infrastructure planning, contract oversight, and cost control on large-scale projects,” he said. “That experience has given me a practical understanding of fiscal responsibility and strategic execution.”

Sawyer has also served ten years with the Roper Volunteer Fire Department, coming up as a junior firefighter and now serving as Captain. He said that role has involved chasing outside money rather than waiting on the county for it.

“As Captain at Roper, I’ve helped obtain grants for equipment to keep our firefighters safe,” he said. “That is the experience I’ll bring to the Board of Commissioners.”

He has not held elected office. He said leadership roles in the fire department and community organizations gave him experience with budgets and accountability. “I have not held elected county office, but I have served in significant leadership roles within the fire department and community organizations that required budgeting oversight, operational leadership, and accountability,” he said.

Sawyer said he has attended Board of Commissioners meetings for the past four years and read the agenda packets. He said that helped him learn how the budget, county departments and state rules work. He spoke respectfully of the current board and said he would work with its members as a partner.

Sawyer is aware that his age will come up.

“I bring energy, practical leadership experience, and a long-term commitment to the future of Washington County,” he said.

In his written statement, he noted that the county has elected young commissioners before. “Age tells you when someone was born,” he wrote. “It does not tell you whether they have done the work.”

He described his politics plainly. “I am a conservative,” he said. “I believe in limited government, fiscal responsibility, strong public safety, faith, and personal accountability.”

Growing the tax base

Asked about the most pressing problem facing the county, Sawyer pointed to economic growth.

“Sustainable economic growth,” he said. “We must expand opportunity without overburdening taxpayers, while protecting our rural character and community values.”

In his written answers, Sawyer said the county’s population is declining and its tax base is narrow. A small number of property owners, many of them farmers facing high input costs and low returns, carry most of the load, he said.

“Every year we ask them for a little more and offer a little less,” he wrote. “The way out is investment, not another rate increase.”

Sawyer said he does not expect a quick fix. He said the county has lost population and jobs for 40 years, and that will not be reversed in one election cycle. “Anyone who tells you one election or one project will fix it is selling something,” he wrote.

He said the groundwork is already in place. In the past four years, the county created an Economic Development Board and hired a full-time economic development director. Sawyer called that the right decision and said he would build on it. He would give the director support and tools, keep the board accountable with clear goals and regular reports to commissioners, and see that the towns, schools, farmers and business owners work together.

He listed the county’s selling points as water capacity, fiber service across the county, affordable land, a four-lane highway and an airport.

If elected, he said, he would also support public safety and first responders, invest in infrastructure responsibly, and “create opportunity so young families can build their future here.” He cited the new EMTOC building as an example of what the county can do when it plans and follows through, and said he would apply the same approach to every department by setting goals, measuring results and reviewing them in public.

Sawyer was most pointed on the county’s use of reserve funds in recent budgets. Asked whether the practice can continue, he said it cannot.

He cited these figures from county financial records:

• The unassigned General Fund balance was $9.5 million at the end of fiscal year 2024 and $6.1 million at the end of fiscal year 2025.
• The 2026 budget appropriated nearly $3.2 million of fund balance.
• The 2027 budget, adopted in June, appropriates $2.1 million from the General Fund, plus about $850,000 from EMS fund reserves.

“Two more years like that and there is nothing left to draw on,” Sawyer wrote.

He said fund balance is meant to cover gaps between tax collections and to respond to disasters such as hurricanes. Using it for routine costs year after year is a mistake, he said. “When we use it to cover ordinary operating costs year after year, we are spending savings on groceries,” he wrote.

Sawyer warned that the state Local Government Commission could begin asking hard questions if reserves keep falling. He said the county could also lose its ability to borrow at reasonable rates.

He said the fix is discipline, and the county already has most of the tools. Budgets should be built from the county’s Strategic Plan and Capital Improvement Plan rather than around them, he said, so vehicles, equipment and buildings are funded on schedule and not as emergencies paid for from reserves.

The county’s fund balance policy sets a minimum reserve of 20 percent of the prior year’s General Fund spending, which Sawyer said works out to roughly $3.2 million today. He said he would push for a higher standard, closer to 30 percent. In his view, that is what it takes to carry the county’s cash flow between tax collections without borrowing.

Sawyer said reserves should be used only for one-time capital needs, never for recurring expenses. Any position or program that continues year after year needs a revenue source that continues as well, he said.

He also called for pursuing every available grant, including those from the state, the federal government, Golden LEAF and USDA. “A grant dollar is a dollar we do not take from reserves or from taxpayers,” he wrote. He pointed to his work at the fire department as an example, saying he has already helped secure outside grant funding for firefighting equipment at Roper. He said every outside board and enterprise the county oversees should be reviewed to make sure the General Fund receives what it is owed.

Sawyer said the long-term answer comes back to the tax base. “Discipline stops the bleeding,” he wrote. “New investment is what heals the patient.”

Asked about the best thing about living in Washington County, Sawyer did not mention the land or the economy.

“The people,” he said. “There is a genuine sense of community here, neighbors helping neighbors, churches engaged, and families who care deeply about one another.”

His favorite book is the Bible, which he said shapes his approach to leadership. His favorite movie is “Remember the Titans,” which he said highlights “leadership under pressure, unity in division, and doing what is right even when it’s difficult.” His favorite holiday is Christmas.

Sawyer said he would try to bring the same practical approach to the commission as he does to his work, and that he would be direct with voters about the county’s finances.

“I will do my homework,” he wrote, “and I will tell you the truth even when it is not what you want to hear.”