ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 19, 1991                   TAG: 9102190357
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium


CUT IN SOCIAL SERVICE FUNDS LIKELY

The outlook for human service agencies wasn't good as the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors held the first of a series of special meetings on its 1991-1992 budget Monday night.

The discussions of county contributions to the human service budgets illustrated some of the tough decisions county government faces in the current economic downturn.

Among the service agencies that requested money from the county but apparently will not get in the upcoming tight budget year are the New River Valley Hospice and the Free Clinic.

Among the agencies that will probably get no more than the same amount of county money they received last year, despite asking for more, are Mental Health and Retardation Services of the New River Valley, the Women's Resource Center at Radford, the Retired Seniors Volunteer Program, New River Community Action and the Area Agency on Aging.

Despite recommendations from County Administrator Betty Thomas that county support be denied, it appears the board will give some money to the Literacy Volunteers of the New River and the Montgomery County Community Shelter in Blacksburg.

The county's 15 human service agencies requested $650,377. Thomas recommended funding of $510,494, which includes $428,236 in county money.

However, the board has only just begun working through the budget, and no final decisions have been made on the funding of any county departments.

Thomas has recommended a $57.7 million budget for fiscal year 1992, which is $151,940 less than the budget advertised for the current budget year.

The proposed budget contains no increases in real estate or personal property taxes, but Thomas has suggested new taxes on the telephone company and on overnight guests in county 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.

The proposed new taxes would bring the county nearly $500,000 in new revenue.

Thomas told the supervisors she had to cut $3.6 million in requests from county agencies in order to prepare a budget that did not increase property taxes. The budget contains no raises for county workers and eliminates most proposed capital purchases.

A discussion of Sheriff Louis Barber's recommended budget of $3.2 million led to a discussion of a lack of enforcement by Barber's department of the county auto decal ordinance.

Supervisor Todd Solberg said he feels many county residents are avoiding paying the decal fee and said the ordinance was better enforced when the county had a police department.

Supervisor Ira Long agreed with Solberg and said he was very dissatisfied with the enforcement by the Sheriff's Department.

"A lot of these deadbeats out there don't pay personal property tax and don't have a decal," Long said. Personal property tax must be paid before a resident can purchase an auto decal.

Barber said neither Solberg nor Long had questioned or criticized him in the past about the decal enforcement. "My only comment is just consider the source," Barber said.

The supervisors have never made any effort to provide him with the personnel he needs to enforce the decal law, Barber said.



 by CNB