Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 15, 1991 TAG: 9103150605
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
While trying to close a $365,000 deficit, board members were able to come up with $254,000 in possible cuts after two hours of discussions Thursday night.
But board member Charlsie Pafford had one idea - an "unpopular" one, she admitted.
"The easiest thing to do would be to cut everybody's salary one-half percent across the board," she said. It would save $300,000.
She was right; it was not popular.
"I would just hope that the board won't consider cutting salaries," said Roanoke Education Association President Kitty Boitnott.
"I just don't think we're going to be interested in making cuts to salaries," Board Chairman Frank Thomas said. "There's some other things we might have to look at."
Pafford made her suggestion after identifying a dozen other cuts that amounted to the $254,000 savings. Other board members did not recommend specific cuts but asked that Superintendent Bayes Wilson and his staff to suggest some cuts.
The board needs to offset $365,000 because its original budget included a $2 million bailout from the county to compensate for cuts in state funding. Supervisors have since told the board it will receive only $1.6 million.
The board has two weeks to adopt a balanced budget to submit to the Board of Supervisors.
One budget-cutting measure discussed by the board was to have a county reserve fund absorb a $150,000 increase in employee health insurance supplements next year. But board members said they feared employees would have to then pay out of their own pockets if premiums rose.
"That could very well mean we would have employees taking home less money in July '91 than they were in June '91," Thomas said. "I certainly do not want to be a part of that."
So, the board ended its discussions falling $111,000 short of the needed cuts. The administration will tinker with the budget this week and present it to the board again Thursday.
"We've got a mess, is what we've got," Pafford said.
No matter what the board decides, there will be nothing new in the operating budget.
"We're not entertaining any new pay raises . . .. We're not going to add any new programs . . .. We are not going to add any new employees," Thomas said. "There certainly isn't going to be any new construction anytime in the near future."
Board members also discussed funding future construction projects with a $9 million or $10 million bond referendum in the fall or next spring.
Wilson said that if the supervisors agreed to ask voters to approve a $15 million referendum for school and county projects, it would cover the top three of eight building projects on the School Board's priority list.
Those projects are the addition of air conditioning and library and kindergarten space at Green Valley Elementary School, renovations and air conditioning at Cave Spring Junior High School and classroom additions at William Byrd, Glenvar and Northside high schools.
Other projects could be funded through loans from the state Literary Fund, although that could take three years because there is a waiting list, Wilson said.
In other budget business, budget and data management director Jerry Hardy told board members they could save $31,000 by raising student fees on textbook rentals and materials.
But Pafford said if they continue to raise fees to balance their budget, "We're getting more and more away from the free public education we're suppose to be providing."
by CNB