Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 15, 1994                   TAG: 9402150194
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

BUDGET WOULD REQUIRE TAX BOOST

Thomas unveiled a $71.6 million budget proposal for the 1994-95 fiscal year that includes an overall spending increase of $4.7 million, or 7 percent over the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. The board will not adopt the budget until later in the spring.

There is a $2.8 million shortfall between proposed spending and the revenues that will come from the mix of federal, state and local taxes.

The Board of Supervisors would have to boost the current real estate property tax rate - which stands at 70 cents per $100 of assessed value - by 14.2 cents to make up the difference. The board historically has been reluctant to raise property taxes even a fraction of that amount. It last raised the rate in 1991, and then only by 1.5 cents.

The 1994-95 proposal moves beyond the "level funding" necessary during the tough economic times of the early 1990s, Thomas said. It includes eight new county employees, money for long-delayed capital improvement projects and financing for the voter-approved Blacksburg library branch addition and the new health and human services building.

The shortfall comes despite projected revenue increases from economic growth and cuts in general government budgets of $2.2 million. Thomas pointed the finger at the School Board's request for a $49.4 million budget, an 8.9 percent increase.

Before adoption last month, school officials cited what they considered to be the bare-bones nature of their budget proposal. Some School Board members and education advocates thought the budget did not ask for enough new spending, because much of the increase will go to cover the cost of opening the new Blacksburg-area elementary school in September.

The six supervisors present had little reaction to the budget proposal and postponed setting up a schedule of meetings to comb through it in detail after Supervisor Joe Gorman said he wanted to explore ways to delay the date it must be adopted.

For several years, Montgomery has been one of the first counties in the state to adopt its budget, which is usually done by the end of March. Because the public hearing on the budget must be advertised in early March, the board loses the advantage of seeing how the final results of the General Assembly session will affect the revenue picture, particularly with regard to school funding.