Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 20, 1992 TAG: 9203200300
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: RINER LENGTH: Medium
Many of the speakers at the board's budget hearing at Auburn High School also urged the board to stick with a proposed 2-cent real-estate tax increase rather than make further budget cuts.
More than 300 people attended the hearing and more than 40 signed up to speak. Most of the discussion was about the school budget.
Speakers chided the board for not having enough concern for education, for publicly feuding with the School Board over the budget and for not having a long-range plan for improving the county's educational system. They warned that a lack of support for quality education will doom Montgomery County's children to second-class status in the years ahead.
There was some opposition to a tax increase and accusations of fat in the school budget. A good part of that opposition came from representatives of a county taxpayers' association.
Not all of the talk was about schools, though. The Rev. Harry Scott of Christiansburg urged the supervisors to do more to support the Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program and New River Community Action.
The level funding the supervisors have proposed for those agencies this year will mean fewer of the county's low-income, handicapped and elderly residents will be helped. Hungry families will not be served by the food bank and families facing eviction will hit the streets, he said.
"Hunger and poverty in Montgomery County will become homelessness and starvation for some," Scott said.
The supervisors have proposed a $61.5 million budget for next year, a 7 percent increase above the current year's budget. A proposed 2-cent increase in the county's tax rate of 70 cents per $100 of assessed value would mean a $16 increase in the tax on an $80,000 home.
But the supervisors have indicated they would like to keep from raising taxes at all. That would mean they would have to cut the budget or find some other way of making up a $510,000 shortfall in revenue.
The board took no action and cannot by law vote on the tax rate and budget for 1992-93 until seven days after the hearing.
Sandy Webster of Blacksburg compared the increase in the tax bill to what her family might spend on one visit to a fast-food restaurant. If that's what it takes to support the county's educational needs next year, Webster said, "I'd rather pass up the burger."
Laura Wedin, a member of the Parent Teachers Association at Gilbert-Linkous Elementary School in Blacksburg, told the board that the PTA was having to spend money to support the school's basic needs that would have gone for extras before. "My children will get only one chance at a formal education and I want it to be the best we can give them," she said.
Velma Barker of Riner said she had supported the School Board's sending its uncut budget to the supervisors. She had not expected it to be totally funded, but had felt it had provided a good outline of the school system's needs, she said.
The School Board originally proposed a $52.5 million school budget for next year, which the supervisors cut to $41.3 million. The supervisors stripped a long list of new educational initiatives, leaving $2 million in new money to provide 4.5 percent raises for all school employees and to open the new Falling Branch Elementary School.
Harold Dudley of Blacksburg applauded the supervisors for cutting the school budget. He questioned whether the county was getting its money's worth from the school system. The school system is failing and why should a failing system get more? he asked.
Barry Worth, president of the Montgomery County Taxpayers Association, criticized the school system for spending $18,000 on a new car in tight economic times. He said the schools need to get back to basics and encouraged the supervisors to lower the tax rate.
John Beamer, another taxpayer association member, criticized Del. Joan Munford, D-Blacksburg, and state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville for not attending the meeting.
by CNB