Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 8, 1991 TAG: 9102080447
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The supervisors got their first look at the plan, which is $151,940 less than the fiscal 1990-91 budget. It would require $1.25 million less in local spending.
Although the budget contains no proposed increases in either the real estate or personal property taxes, County Administrator Betty Thomas has suggested new taxes on the telephone company and on guests in hotels, motels and campgrounds.
She also proposed increases in the charge for the county's motor vehicle decal and in the consumer utility tax on electric, gas and telephone service.
With income from other sources falling because of the weakening economy, the county will need the revenue from the new taxes to prevent further cuts in the budget.
In preparing the budget, county departments were asked to make the "most prudent budget requests possible," Thomas told the supervisors. When work on the budget began, requests from county departments exceeded available funding by $3.64 million, she said.
During an early round of cuts it became apparent the county could not afford any new programs or employees in the coming fiscal year, Thomas said. When those reductions did not prove enough to balance the budget, travel budgets were cut in half and all requests for new equipment and other capital outlays were eliminated with the exception of cars for the sheriff's department, she said.
"Recommended reductions - in basic budget requests, in travel, in capital improvements, in new personnel and in the area of freezing salaries - were not made lightly," Thomas said.
After it became apparent that cutting would not be enough to balance the budget, Thomas said, she looked for new sources of revenue, which she described "as the most feasible way of balancing the budget."
A proposed 0.5 percent tax on the gross receipts from the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co.'s customers in the county would bring in an estimated $69,806. A tax on overnight accommodations in unincorporated areas would bring in $34,675.
Eliminating a $5 break for station wagon drivers on the county decal would raise $25,740 and an increase in the decal tax from $15 to $20 would bring in another $89,913.
The biggest gain, however, would come from a proposed increase from 15 percent to 20 percent in the tax on the first $15 of electric, gas and telephone bills. The maximum tax per utility would go from $2.25 to $3, and that would raise an additional $235,000.
Supervisor Todd Solberg said he believed the county also ought to consider raising some of the fees it charges for various services.
The increase in the consumer utility tax and the cost of county auto decals would help offset a request for an additional $503,217 from the School Board, Thomas said. Although Superintendent Harold Dodge has said publicly the schools were asking for only an additional $198,169 in local money, the School Board had not taken into account that the county must begin paying for the new Christiansburg elementary school in the next fiscal year, she said.
Of $25.11 million in local revenue needed to finance the proposed county budget, $18.6 million - or more than 74 percent - would go to schools.
Since fiscal year 1985, county support for schools has grown almost 97 percent, from $9.6 million to $18.6 million, Thomas said.
The supervisors will meet jointly with the School Board to discuss the budget Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the circuit courtroom.
by CNB