Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990 TAG: 9003212378
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
That was what supervisors, who face re-election next year, wanted to hear Tuesday during County Administrator Richard Huff's annual budget message.
Huff recommended the board dip into the county's unappropriated reserve fund rather than raise taxes to close a $500,000 shortfall.
The proposed $36 million spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1 represents an 8 percent increase in general fund spending over the current year.
Board members did not comment on the proposed budget. They plan to hold a series of workshops and public hearings before they adopt a 1990-91 budget May 21.
In his budget message, Huff warned that dipping into the county's $2.5 million reserve is a one-time solution that will create "major fiscal problems" if repeated next year.
Huff said the board could find its budget-writing options limited next year unless the county finds new sources of revenue, such as a tax on restaurant meals.
A meals tax - which county voters rejected by nearly a three-to-one ratio in a 1988 referendum - would generate about $100,000 per year, he said. Huff suggested that an "educational campaign" by the county might persuade voters of the pressing need to expand the county's tax base.
In preparing his budget, Huff talked privately with some supervisors, who said they did not want to be remembered for raising real estate taxes during each year of their four-year term.
In 1988, the board voted to raise the county's real estate tax rate from 50 cents to 60 cents per $100 of assessed value. The board dropped the rate back to 50 cents last year, but most landowners received higher tax bills because of a general reassessment.
Huff said the proposed 1990-91 budget is a conservative plan that guards against downturns in the state's economy and costly state requirements for landfills and recycling.
"The outlook at the state level and what we know about federal funding to localities should clearly place us in a defensive position for the near term," he said.
Other than 5 percent raises for full-time employees, most departments were held to near-level funding from the previous year.
New initiatives included $200,000 for landfill expansion, $93,000 for a countywide recycling plan, $60,000 for the Franklin Memorial Hospital capital fund drive and $25,000 for a new zoning enforcement officer.
Huff's budget did not take into account four full-time emergency medical technician positions that the board approved Monday at an estimated cost of $90,000.
Huff also recommended raising landfill tipping fees from $12 per ton to $20 per ton. The fee increase would raise about $85,000.
Earlier Tuesday, the Franklin School Board presented a $27 million budget that would require $698,251 in additional local money. Huff strongly recommended the Board of Supervisors adopt the school budget as presented.
The plan includes money for six new teaching positions and would increase the county's share of employee health insurance premiums from $80 to $120 per month.
by CNB