Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 13, 1991 TAG: 9103130396
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
No layoffs are expected, but some job vacancies will be left unfilled and county employees probably won't get a pay raise.
County Administrator Elmer Hodge briefed the Board of Supervisors Tuesday on the latest revenue projections for the 1991-1992 budget year.
Those projections show local tax revenues should increase by $3 million, or 5.1 percent, next year. That's down $325,000 from preliminary projections made just two months ago.
Most of the increase will come from real estate taxes, which are expected to bring in $32.2 million, up $1.2 million from this year. That's based on a tax rate of $1.13 per $100 of assessed value, a 2-cent reduction from the current rate.
The Board of Supervisors expressed its intention last year to lower the tax rate to $1.13. But the budget squeeze might force the board to reconsider.
The county could gain an additional $570,000 in revenue by keeping the real estate tax rate at $1.15. Chairman Steve McGraw, for one, has questioned whether the money the typical taxpayer would save by a 2-cent reduction - $16 per year on a house assessed at $80,000 - is worth the loss of that much revenue.
But Supervisor Bob Johnson said Tuesday that he would reconsider the 2-cent reduction only if the additional revenue were used for employee pay raises.
The $3 million increase in local revenues next year will be almost totally offset by the loss of $2.8 million in state funding.
That includes losses of $1.6 million for county schools and $800,000 for the county police department. Constitutional officers will lose $186,000 and the social services department will lose $141,000.
The supervisors have told Hodge to use the new local revenue to make up any reductions in state funding. That leaves a net revenue increase of $206,000.
There's not a lot he can do with so little new money, Hodge said.It's almost certain, for example, that employees won't get a pay raise next year. A 1 percent pay raise for government employees would cost $200,000. A 1 percent raise for school employees would cost $400,000.
"We've had employee meetings about that, and most of them understand," Hodge said. "What we're trying to avoid is laying off people."
Hodge is scheduled to give his proposed budget to the Board of Supervisors on March 26. He said Monday that he didn't know yet if he would recommend that the supervisors reconsider the 2-cent reduction in the tax rate. The supervisors are scheduled to set the tax rate by April 16.
The supervisors voted Tuesday to advertise a tax rate of $1.13. They still could raise it, but it would have to be readvertised.
Supervisor Lee Eddy suggested another way of bringing in more revenue: increasing the personal property tax rate, which now is $3.50 per $100 of assessed value. But he was outvoted by the other supervisors.
The county has an unappropriated balance of nearly $4.3 million, or 6.25 percent of the general fund budget. But Hodge is recommending that the supervisors not spend that money. "We're trying to live within our reoccurring revenues," he said.
Hodge wants the county to keep its unappropriated balance high to, among other things, improve its bond rating.
by CNB