Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 4, 1993 TAG: 9306040146
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
"The good news is the revised budget balances," said board Chairman Wayne Angell. "The bad news is we have to sell the Blue Ridge [magisterial] district to Patrick County."
After thinking they had finished working on next year's proposed budget, the supervisors discovered last Friday that April 1992 budget figures were used in calculating next year's budget. The result was the $2.35 million budget gap.
The budget had to be adjusted by almost 6 percent. County Administrator Macon Sammons Jr. said that required 88 revisions.
More than $600,000 of the adjustments came from money that had been budgeted - but not spent - in the 1992-93 budget. The county also used more than $600,000 in 1992-93 revenues that came in over the expected amount to help balance the budget.
Hit hardest in the latest version of the spending plan was money that would have been used for planning and projects. After $118,000 was cut from next year's economic development budget, the county was left with just $32,000 in the fund. That money would be used as an enticement for an industry considering locating in the county.
Almost $500,000 earmarked for future big-ticket items had to be taken out of the budget. Another $200,000 set aside to build a new landfill also was excised.
But Angell said the budget adjustments were not done with "slash-and-burn" tactics. He said departmental budgets would not be severely affected.
As an example of how many of the smaller spending cuts were made, Sammons said a new building inspector and a new animal control officer would be hired Jan. 1, instead of next month.
The supervisors agreed earlier to raise the real estate tax rate from 50 cents to 60 cents per $100 assessed valuation, primarily to pay for $1.5 million in new money promised the school system.
The board will hold a public hearing on the budget June 21 at Franklin County High School.
Supervisor Homer Murray warned department heads, the school system and others who ask the board for money throughout the year that the county will have little money to spare in the coming year. "What I get out of this," Murray said, "we're going to have to say `No' a lot of times in the coming year."
by CNB