Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 17, 1993 TAG: 9303170142
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SHAWSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
BUDGET, TAX PROPOSALS TO GET HEARING
The public will have its say Thursday night on Montgomery County's proposed $66.9 million county budget and 3-cent real estate tax increase for the upcoming year.The Board of Supervisors is to hold a public hearing on the budget and proposed tax increase at 7 p.m. Thursday at Shawsville High School.
The county's share of the proposed budget is $26.8 million, or $1.4 million more than the $25.4 million in county funds budgeted for the current fiscal year.
The remainder of the budget comes from state and federal funds.
Overall, the budget is roughly $5.6 million higher, or 9 percent, than the $61.3 million budgeted this year.
County supervisors, prompted by job layoffs and a struggling economy, gave instructions in the fall for county departments to prepare budgets that would be no higher than the current year's spending.
Supervisor Henry Jablonski of Christiansburg warned his fellow supervisors this month that he probably would not vote for any increase in the tax rate. If enough supervisors agree with Jablonski following the hearing, the board would be forced to cut another $600,000 from its budget.
While the unemployment rate in the county has not climbed as much as recent layoffs would predict, Jablonski believes many people who are working are not making as much money as they once did. He also says many county residents are retirees on fixed incomes.
Jablonski said he also is concerned that residents also will be facing increased federal taxes this year.
Tax increases will not help the county's efforts to attract retirees, Jablonski said. He said he would rather see county revenues increased through job and economic growth than by tax increases.
For the most part, the budget proposes spending at or below last year's levels. The major exception is the school system.
The supervisors agreed on a $43.09 million school operating budget, which is $1.8 million or 4 percent higher than the current budget.
The proposed school spending, however, is $5.26 million less than the School Board asked for.
Teachers and parents say they will urge the supervisors Thursday night to stick with their plans for a 3-cent tax increase to pay for the increases in the school budget.
Without more money to cover increases due to inflation and state and federal regulations, the school system might be forced to consider eliminating such programs as elementary art and music or interscholastic sports, Superintendent Harold Dodge told the supervisors in February.
Linda Ives, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, which represents most of the county's teachers, said the association remains concerned that the budget could end up costing teaching jobs and educational programs, which would hurt the quality of education.
Montgomery County has a history of going beyond the state's minimum standards of quality for education. If programs are cut now, it would be harder to reinstate them in the future, Ives warned.
Ives said it was unfortunate that many county teachers who would like to attend Thursday's hearing will not be able to because of parent-teacher conferences scheduled for Thursday night.
Kimberle Badinelli, president of the county Council of PTAs, said the PTAs will ask the supervisors to approve the proposed budget with the tax increase.
Still, the school budget is not enough to meet the county's educational needs, Badinelli said.
She said, though, she was pleased that the supervisors had recognized the importance of the county's Reading Recovery Program, designed to identify and correct reading problems in the lower grades, and had included money in the budget for it.
The supervisors also added money to the school budget to pay the county's share of raises for school employees.
This year the General Assembly approved the state's share of what amounts to a 1.75 percent annual raise for teachers and 1.17 percent raise for other school employees.
The supervisors decided to use money they expect to be left over from this year's school budget to pay for the county's share of the raises next year.
The county will pay for roughly half of the $518,647 cost of the raises.
Proposed increases in the school budget would add 1 1/2 cents to the tax rate, and increases in the general government budget would add another 1/2 cent. But some supervisors were concerned they would be cutting the budget too close by advertising a 2-cent tax increase. The extra penny increase in the tax rate was included as a cushion.
Each penny increase in the real-estate tax rate means roughly $190,000 more in revenue for the county.
A 3-cent increase would mean a $15 tax increase for someone owning a $50,000 home.
John Beamer of Christiansburg, president of the Montgomery County Taxpayers Association, said that group would oppose a tax increase until it can be demonstrated clearly that one is needed.