Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412300110
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Though much remains in flux, the tightness could mean the postponement of teacher pay raises, initiatives proposed in the Focus 2006 study and other new spending.
Alternately, it could lead to a school budget that would cover those major costs but likewise require a major local tax increase.
Prospects for that seem dim, given that in 1995 a majority of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors will be up for re-election. (And the first four School Board elections will be held.)
Montgomery School Superintendent Herman Bartlett is to propose his 1995-96 school budget at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday before the county School Board.
This week, unlike some past years, the Board of Supervisors gave Bartlett an estimated target of the increase in local tax money the School Board can expect for 1995-96.
The 19-school, 8,800-student system is the single largest component of county spending, accounting for nearly 65 percent of Montgomery's $70.67 million, 1994-95 budget. The schools are also the biggest user of local taxes, taking nearly $20 million this year.
County Finance Director Carol Edmonds told the supervisors Wednesday they can expect to have $506,700 in new revenue to give to the schools. That's a third of what school officials had hoped would be available under the most optimistic scenarios.
The money will come from $1.15 million in growth in local tax revenues, which are slightly above projections this year and are expected to be 4 percent higher than projections in 1995-96. The balance of the $1.15 million would go toward a $70,000 merit pay increase for county employees, a 2.7 percent increase in county spending to keep pace with inflation and a $222,200 increase in debt service related to the sale of bonds this fall for the new health and human services building in Christiansburg and expansion of the Blacksburg branch library.
Dan Morris, the school system's finance director, meanwhile, said Thursday he expects to receive an increase of approximately $650,000 in state funding, down from the estimated $800,000 increase anticipated before Gov. George Allen released his proposed state budget last week. Edmonds and the county are still predicting a state funding increase of $847,000, based on information received from the governor's office.
The school's $650,000 estimate, combined with the $506,700 in new money from the county, would give the school system $1.1 million in new spending. That's just enough to maintain existing programs, buy a few trailers for classrooms and hire the new teachers necessary to keep pace with growth, Morris said.
In the current budget, the school system enjoyed a nearly $2.6 million increase in spending, to $45.3 million. But most of that increase came from a boost in state funding. As Morris explained to the School Board on Dec. 6, any spending increase above the state's expected contribution will have to come from the county. In other words, if the School Board wants another $2.6 million increase in the coming budget, it will need another $1.5 million from county taxpayers, on top of the $507,000 already predicted by the supervisors.
"It should be an interesting budget year," Morris said.
by CNB