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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 19, 1994                   TAG: 9404190170
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BEDFORD COUNTY WON'T RAISE TAXES

Bedford County taxpayers will see no increase in real estate taxes this year after the Board of Supervisors whittled about $80,000 from its proposed 1994-95 budget Monday night.

The final cuts in the budget came after a public hearing last week, in which several speakers urged the board to hold the line on spending.

The budget was approved unanimously.

The supervisors instructed staff to find ways to cut the $69.2 million budget so that a real estate tax increase would be unnecessary.

County taxpayers now pay 65 cents in taxes for every $100 in real estate they own.

The supervisors delayed some requests for furniture and computers, cut the maintenance budget for the jail annex and dipped into the county's reserve fund to balance the budget.

The new budget does authorize an increase in landfill dumping fees, an increase that some private trash carriers have indicated will make it difficult for them to stay in business.

Supervisors agreed to give those haulers and industry a break by making them pay only $38 per ton instead of the standard fee of $61 per ton.

The school budget increased by about $2 million, but the lion's share of that increase came from increased state revenues.

Teachers get a 21/2-percent pay raise, but the supervisors increased local spending for schools by only $275,000.

by CNB