Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 7, 1991 TAG: 9103070343
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
The most optimistic assumption is that the Board of Supervisors will agree to raise taxes during an election year, but that appears unlikely.
Supervisors have gone on record as saying that county departments - including the School Board - should not expect to receive any more local tax money than they received this year.
Still, the School Board has prepared a preliminary budget that includes a $379,246 increase in local money. "I fully expect they'll cut all of it out," Superintendent Len Gereau said Wednesday.
If that happens, the School Board will have to find another $400,000 to cut from next year's budget. Gereau already has identified several hundred thousand dollars in cuts that would not involve laying off teachers and other employees.
Budget problems are not unique to Franklin County. Local governments throughout the state face sluggish revenue growth and state budget cuts.
In Franklin County, state aid to local schools will fall from $15.9 million originally budgeted this year to $15.6 million next year - a 2 percent drop.
The School Board's goal is to weather the storm with its current academic programs and staff intact. The preliminary 1991-92 spending plan calls for freezing salaries and benefits of all employees, leaving a top administrative post vacant and eliminating about $500,000 in proposed expenses.
The proposed $28.1 million I fully expect they'll cut all of it out. Len Gereau school superintendent budget includes an increase of $141,446 over the current spending plan.
The preliminary budget, however, is also built upon the sands of optimistic assumptions.
For instance, it assumes the recession will end quickly and that sales tax revenues will grow by about $150,000. Gereau acknowledged that the sales tax figure is highly optimistic. "The safest thing to do would be to underestimate by another $150,000," he said.
But the School Board cannot afford to be safe.
Projecting no growth in sales tax revenue would force the School Board to cut another $150,000 or ask the Board of Supervisors to make up the money.
The budget includes equally optimistic assumptions about the cost of gasoline, heating oil and food.
In other words, the School Board is betting on a quick end to the recession, stable oil prices and low inflation. "We are being very optimistic," Gereau said. "If that doesn't happen, we'll be in trouble."
The School Board will present its spending plan to the supervisors on March 19.
by CNB