
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990                   TAG: 9003232650
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                 LENGTH: Short

NO TAX INCREASE EXPECTED IN FRANKLIN

For the first time in three years, the Franklin County Board of Supervisors can balance the county's budget without a tax increase.

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.

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