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

DATE: FRIDAY, February 25, 1994                   TAG: 9402250361
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-10   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

DIFFERENCES IN NUMBERS FAILS TO DERAIL MEETING OF SUPERVISORS, SCHOOL BOARD B

If you listen to school Superintendent Herman Bartlett and his staff, the School Board wants to spend $46.2 million in the fiscal year beginning July 1, a $3.6 million increase overall. That would require total county tax money of $21.2 million, an increase of $1.2 million, or 8 percent. The remainder would come from state and federal revenues.

But the budget summary prepared by County Administrator Betty Thomas shows school spending of $49.4 million, a $4.04 million overall jump requiring an increase in local funds of $2.8 million, or 15 percent.

The differences come down to which figure is used as the base for the current year, how one computes that number and what programs are included in the grand total.

That's major apples and oranges.

Despite the vast split, it was all peaches and cream at a Wednesday night budget work session among the Board of Supervisors, Bartlett and seven of the nine School Board members.

Bartlett pointed to the disagreement over the numbers and insisted his staff's figures were correct. "That's not hand-and-eye stuff, we can prove it," he said.

After three hours of overhead projections, bad jokes and lengthy explanations of the minutia of the school budget request, the discrepancy seemed to matter little.

Instead, the Board of Supervisors gave Bartlett a thumbs-up for a more concise budget summary than it had received under his predecessor, Harold Dodge, and asked questions largely focused on specific programs, rather than the budget as a whole.

Veteran Supervisor Ira Long kicked off the kudos: "This is one of the best presentations I've heard since I've been here."

The six other supervisors echoed his comments. "This presentation of the school budget was the best we've ever had," said Supervisor Joe Gorman.

Straightening out the discrepancy between the numbers - what Bartlett referred to as "our little disagreement" - apparently will have to wait for one of the work sessions next week when the board can hash it out with Thomas and Jeff Lundsford, director of fiscal management.

Based on an examination of the county budget document, the difference involves how the self-supporting funds, such as those used to run the school cafeterias and distribution of textbooks, are recorded. It also includes a series of complicated accounting maneuvers involving a state funding formula based on a total number of students the school division didn't reach this year.

Regardless of the accounting differences, School Board Chairman Roy Vickers said that even with the requested increase in funds, the 1994-95 school budget is conservative.

"It's not like we haven't worked on it. It's not like we haven't wrenched it down. It's not like we haven't made the hard choices," Bartlett said. "I believe we have."