Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 22, 1994 TAG: 9403220109
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Whether it was the rain, apathy, disillusionment or satisfaction, the tiny audience of 60 baffled the Board of Supervisors and frustrated the three men who spoke against the proposed 8-cent jump in the real estate tax rate and the 25-cent boost to the personal property tax.
"Either they're disillusioned, or they have a lot of confidence in this Board of Supervisors," Chairman Larry Linkous said afterward. "The whole board was real surprised."
The board will resume work on the budget next week. With several thorny issues to resolve - including a disputed $793,000 school budget shortfall - there will be at least one more night of work after that before the tax increase comes up for a vote.
Past budget hearings, especially ones involving tax increases, have drawn hundreds. Even last year's hearing in Shawsville, which is off the beaten track for most of the county's population, was a better draw, longtime observers said.
"I don't see enough people here to even start an argument, much less talk about taxes," said Denver Stewart, a retired county sheriff's investigator.
Stewart said county taxes are already a heavy burden for a retiree.
"The taxes here in Montgomery County have gone plumb out of sight," he said.
Another speaker said the low turnout might be because people don't believe the supervisors will listen. He recalled that the last time the board held a budget hearing at Christiansburg High School, which was 1991, almost all the speakers opposed raising taxes, but the board did so, anyway.
But those were minority opinions among the 11 speakers, four of whom were from parent-teacher associations and criticized the school budget for not including enough spending. Those speakers called on the supervisors to at least fund the School Board's budget proposal in full.
Noticeably absent from that chorus was the Montgomery County Education Association. B.J. Mullins, president of the teachers' group, said she purposely did not speak out, because doing so made no difference when the School Board adopted and sent its budget to the supervisors in January.
Other speakers asked for more money for the county's economic development staff and for the Free Clinic of the New River Valley.
The Board of Supervisors has proposed spending $71.7 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1, a 7 percent increase. About $46.2 million of that is designated for the school operating fund, a 9 percent increase over the current $42.2 million budget.
Board members say much of the overall increase is being dictated by decisions already made, such as opening a Blacksburg-area elementary school this fall, or those projects endorsed by the voters, such as the cost of borrowing money to build a health building in Christiansburg and expand the library branch in Blacksburg.
To cover a $2 million-plus gap between revenues and projected spending, the board is proposing increasing the real estate tax rate from 70 cents to 78 cents per $100 of assessed value. The personal property tax rate would jump from $2.30 to $2.55 per $100 of assessed value.
by CNB