Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 1, 1993 TAG: 9305010080
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"In the event the School Board desires to oppose the consolidation, it may simply refuse to give up the functions which the county proposes to take over," board attorney Kimberle Ritchie advised in a memorandum this week.
But if the board decides to do that, it also should be prepared to defend itself in a lawsuit, she said.
Ritchie explained that she and County Attorney Roy Thorpe disagree on whether state law allows the county to consolidate the School Board's and county's finance departments without the School Board's consent.
Superintendent Harold Dodge sent School Board members a memo Friday with his administration's analysis of the county proposal.
Dodge has recommended that School Board members be prepared to discuss it at Tuesday's School Board meeting. The board then probably will want to forward the study to the Board of Supervisors, he said.
Board Chairman Roy Vickers of Blacksburg said Dodge's analysis has raised even more questions.
The board will discuss the study on Tuesday and decide how to proceed. The probable result will be a another joint meeting with the supervisors, he said.
In their analysis, school administrators questioned whether it would be proper for county officials to be involved in the day-to-day workings of the school system.
Dodge's memo notes that state law places responsibility for the financial management of the schools with school boards and not the governing bodies.
"Every opinion [of the state attorney general] concludes that the School Board alone is the final judge of its needs and the Board of Supervisors may not control the purchases of the school division," Ritchie said.
Last May, the supervisors directed County Administrator Betty Thomas to prepare a plan for consolidation of the county and school system's finance departments. A consolidation recommendation prepared by county finance officials was unveiled at a joint meeting of the supervisors and School Board on April 21.
The supervisors said they were interested in merging the departments as a way of improving accountability and efficiency in reporting county finances. The Radford firm that audits the county's books twice has recommended that the supervisors consider consolidation.
The proposal by the county's staff says the county could save money, including $237,000 in salary and benefits over the next five years.
Consolidating also would provide a prior review of school purchases and better information for the supervisors on the financial condition of the school system, the study said.
During the past week, school administrators analyzed the proposal and, while agreeing with some of the county staff's conclusions, has some questions.
For example, school officials doubt that consolidation will save the county money.
Under the county staff's proposal, six School Board purchasing and payroll employees would be combined with the county's financial department. The duties of the county's purchasing agent, who recently retired, would be picked up by the school system's purchasing agent.
But school officials said the projected savings don't consider that four new employees would have to be hired to handle new work created by consolidation or other work in the School Board office that employees who would be transferred had done.
County officials suggested that one benefit of consolidation would be that school system bills could be paid three times a month instead of once as they are now.
But school officials responded that paying the bills more often would require more meetings of the School Board, which by law must approve bills for payment. It also would require County Treasurer Ellis Meredith to hire another employee.
A desire by supervisors to get better financial information about the schools, particularly at budget time, seems to have been the motivating force behind the move toward consolidation.
But supervisors could have that information without consolidation, Dodge said. The information easily could be supplied through a computer hookup with the county, he said.
Dodge said he has been providing the county with detailed financial information monthly since he took office five years ago.
Dodge, will be succeeded by Herman Bartlett Jr. on July 1, questions whether the supervisors ever have been provided that information by the county's staff. One county supervisor told him he had never seen the information, Dodge said.
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by CNB