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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 28, 1991                   TAG: 9102280214
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS/ NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

FUNDS TRANSFERRED TO COVER FORMER DOG WARDEN'S BENEFITS

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors transferred $16,978 from its contingency fund Tuesday night into the dog warden budget to cover a payment of accrued annual and sick leave benefits and uncompensated employee time.

Roughly $13,000 in the accumulated benefits were earned by Muriel Graham, the county's former chief dog warden, who retired last year after 22 years on the job. The remainder was accumulated by another county employee.

Some of the benefits were earned before the county put a cap on the amount of leave that employees could accumulate.

Assistant County Administrator Pam McCune told the supervisors that three more employees in the system fell under a grandfather clause when the limits were put on accumulated leave. If those three were to leave now, McCune said it would cost the county roughly $46,000 for accumulated benefits.

Supervisor Todd Solberg suggested that in the future the money for the leave should be included in the budget rather than drawn from contingency money and Supervisors Chairman Henry Jablonski agreed.

In other action, the supervisors held a lively discussion on whether members should accept payment to attend meetings of other governmental boards and commissions and who should pay if they do.

Solberg said he believes that payment for attending those meetings should come out of the Board of Supervisors' budget rather than from the budget of the agencies whose meetings board members are attending.

Supervisor Ira Long disagreed: "I think it all comes out of the same pot," Long said.

Noting that some agencies pay supervisors for attending their meetings in a liaison status and others don't, Solberg said he believes that putting the burden on the board for the compensation would be a more fair way to handle it.

Solberg then suggested that, considering the tight budget year, the supervisors should not accept any pay for attending the meetings of other governmental bodies except those outside of the county.

Long said he would go along with refusing a proposed 5 percent raise for board members but said the liaison compensation issue should be left alone.

by CNB