Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 7, 1994 TAG: 9404070313
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-9 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
With a gap back in February of nearly $3 million between spending requests and revenues, the issue was how much.
To resolve the tax quandary, the Board of Supervisors took a conservative route late Tuesday.
The board increased the two main local tax rates slightly, by 21/2 cents on the real estate tax rate and by 15 cents on the personal property rate.
The board also agreed to spending delays and cuts to close the deficit.
And it agreed to hold up $420,000 for the next school year until the School Board agrees it will not spend $515,000 in local tax money this fiscal year, which ends June 30. That would resolve a shortfall in this year's school budget created by a flawed estimate of the number of students in the system.
"I'm glad that it's over, it's been a long process this year and it's been real trying," said supervisors Chairman Larry Linkous. "There were so many needs and we didn't feel like we could raise taxes high enough to meet all the needs. It was a real delicate balance there."
And it was a balance that, for the most part, didn't generate an outpouring of public comment. The supervisors' March 21 public hearing on the budget and tax rates was a dud: In a county with a population of 75,000, only 60 people showed and only 11 spoke.
Four of those were PTA activists who criticized school officials for not asking for enough money and who urged the Board of Supervisors to at least fund the school budget as presented.
Supervisor Nick Rush touched on that idea. If the board tried to balance the budget by making major cuts in the school budget, it would be wearing a black hat and would be painted as being anti-education, he said.
Rush spoke from experience. A 1992 budget vote that education advocates criticized became a campaign issue last fall during his unsuccessful bid for a House of Delegates seat.
The Board of Supervisors seats held by Rush, Linkous, Ira Long and Joe Gorman will be up for election next year.
Though the board agreed to cutting $42,000 for several minor school initiatives and $167,000 to reduce school employees' pay raises from 3 percent to 2.5 percent, "More or less we're giving the School Board what they're asking for," Rush said. County employees' pay raises were held to 2.5 percent.
To avoid a larger tax increase, the supervisors agreed to a series of steps in informal votes at Tuesday night's meeting.
The big ones included delaying the bond sale for the library and health building projects that voters approved last year; and using $300,000 left over from the sale of bonds last year, for the new Blacksburg-area elementary school, to pay for a year's debt service on the project. School officials had planned to use a part of that money to fix roofs.
Board members also agreed, reluctantly, to depend in part on $165,000 from a one-time windfall that will be created by having the tax increase on bills that will come due in June. They also authorized Thomas to cut 1 percent of spending from the county's operating and maintenance budgets. That will amount to about $35,000.
And the capital improvements budget fell victim again for a third year. This time, instead of eliminating it altogether as in the past two budgets, the supervisors cut it in half with the intent of spreading the costs over two budget years. That saved $186,000.
by CNB