Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 29, 1991 TAG: 9103290398
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
To lower the tax increase, the supervisors lopped $510,000 off their proposed budget for the next fiscal year and tapped the county's cash reserve fund for $333,000. The total county budget will now be $57.43 million, rather than the $57.94 million that was advertised.
Instead of going up 4.5 cents from the 68.5-cent rate that would have left tax bills the same as last year, the rate will only go up a penny and a half.
The 5-2 vote on the tax rate means that a Montgomery County taxpayer whose property increased in value by an average 19 percent during last year's reassessment will face a 2.8 percent tax increase rather than the 7.2 percent increase that had been proposed.
On a house that was worth $100,000 before the reassessment, the taxes will now be an average $833 rather than the $869 they would have been under the original tax proposal.
Supervisors Ann Hess of Christiansburg and James Moore of Blacksburg voted against cutting the budget and tax rate, whose advertisement had drawn 200 people to a public hearing last Thursday night. Many of those attending last week's hearing spoke against raising taxes.
Hess said she could not countenance cutting county services any further and thinks the budget is a backward step for the county. Moore said he believes the vote puts next year's budget in jeopardy.
But Hess and Moore passed up an opportunity to compromise on a penny higher tax increase, which would have saved $266,000 of the budget cuts. That is roughly the same amount the board cut from the school system's budget.
Supervisors Todd Solberg and George Gray of Blacksburg had backed a 71-cent tax rate but could not get support from Hess and Moore, who wanted to go higher; and Supervisors Joe Stewart, Ira Long and Henry Jablonski, who wanted a lower rate.
The $270,000 the supervisors cut from the school system's budget is a lump sum. Cuts in the school budget will be at the discretion of the School Board.
However, the supervisors used certain areas of planned school spending as a guide in making cuts. Among the items the supervisors would like to see the schools cut are 11 new aides who would be used to provide duty-free lunch periods next year for elementary teachers; an assistant principal for Margaret Beeks Elementary School; $50,000 in travel money, and $40,000 for staff training. A proposed $60,000 for an early retirement program also should be cut because it won't be needed next year, they said.
The supervisors cut the county government operating budget by taking $100,000 from a capital improvements fund, laying off an assistant dog warden for a $10,000 saving, taking $30,000 from the recreation budget, $50,000 from the general contingency fund and $10,000 from the buildings and grounds fund.
The $333,000 the county will take from its cash reserve fund drops the treasury well below the 5 percent reserve that bond-rating agencies find desirable when rating a county's credit. Stewart proposed early during the contentious meeting that the board should tap the reserve, saying many of the county's hard-pressed taxpayers had no reserve of their own to call on.
The job of formalizing the tax rate and budget was a long and painful one and it appeared at one point the supervisors would not be able to reach an agreement Thursday night. For a long while, the board was stymied, with Hess and Moore supporting the original 73-cent rate, Gray and Solberg backing 71 cents, Long and Stewart 70 cents and board Chairman Jablonski wanting no tax increase and a 68.5-cent rate.
The board also eliminated a proposed increase in the merchants capital tax, voting to leave that levy at $6.05 on each $100 of 20 percent of assessed value. Eliminating the increase, which Long said was killing the county's business people, cost the budget roughly $40,000.
Other tax increases for next year remained in place, however. The personal property tax will increase from $2.15 to $2.30 on each $100 of assessed value and the machinery and tools tax will rise from $1.70 to $1.80 on each $100. The motor vehicle decal will increase from $15 to $21, and consumer taxes on gas, electric and telephone service will go up.
Solberg objected to cutting the increase in merchants capital tax without also cutting the machinery and tools tax, saying it sent the message that the county is more interested in attracting retail business than manufacturing.
Next year's budget is roughly $400,000 less than the one the county advertised for the current year and is $4.3 million less than was actually appropriated for this year. The county has been faced with declining state support and a recessionary economy.
Long said he had come to the meeting with no idea he would be voting for a tax increase and said it was the first time he had during his years on the board. He would tell his constituents it was the best he could do, he said.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on April 3, 1991.
Because of a reporter's error, it was incorrectly reported last Friday that the Montgomery County supervisors had cut the county's school budget Thursday night by another $270,000. The cut actually added up to $310,000.
Memo: CORRECTION