Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 30, 1995 TAG: 9503310013
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
About 110 people settled into Christiansburg High School's vast auditorium to speak their piece to the county Board of Supervisors on its proposed $69 million budget and 5-cent real estate tax increase. If the budget is adopted, the average homeowner's tax bill would go up 9 percent, due in part to last year's reassessment.
By 8:15 p.m., 25 people spoke, one letter was read into the record and most everyone left quickly.
The board will resume its 1995-96 budget deliberations next week before adopting its tax rates by mid-April. So far, there appears to be little support among a majority of the board for the full 5-cent increase.
The small crowd - Montgomery has a population of 75,600 - still was bigger than last year's, when 60 people showed up to comment on an even larger proposed tax increase. By contrast, nearly 300 people showed up in Riner three years ago for the budget hearing.
Nearly half of Wednesday's crowd consisted of county employees, who showed up to support Planning Director Joe Powers in his pitch for salary increases and other steps to bring county workers' pay up to par with surrounding governments'.
Of the other speakers, four supported more funding for the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library, 10 supported a tax increase to pay for higher school spending and another 10 either opposed the same or questioned if more money would improve schools.
School Board member Barry Worth echoed School Superintendent Herman Bartlett's contention that the Board of Supervisors has shifted money away from schools and into other government spending this decade. He said schools received 73 percent of the total county budget in 1989-90, but that has dropped to 64 percent.
Afterward, however, Supervisor Nick Rush said an analysis prepared by the county finance director showed that the schools' operating budget had increased from 71 percent to 73.4 percent of the total county budget in four years.
Dennis Frith of the Stroubles Creek area used the bright-green roof on the new Kipps Elementary School outside Blacksburg as a symbol of what he considers to be excesses in county spending. ``It just seems to me that you find ways to waste the taxpayers' money,'' Frith said. ``I believe you can find some ways to do some bullet-biting and save for the taxpayers.''
Harvey Kirkner, a Christiansburg retiree, spoke after a string of library and school-spending supporters. ``Everybody here wants more money, more money,'' Kirkner said. ``They need to wake up and smell the roses.''
But Jim Klagge, a Virginia Tech philosophy professor and possible School Board candidate, accused supervisors of fearfully putting forward a tax increase they don't support. ``It seems to me that what this county needs is leadership that offers tax increases for programs that work,'' he said. ``Tell the voters how good our programs are and how good they could be.''
Memo: ***CORRECTION***