Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504070046
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Board members spent nearly three hours trying to find ways to pinch a nickel here and save a dime there - all in the name of avoiding, if possible, a real-estate tax increase.
The seven board members came away with a short list of questions that would affect only a smidgen of spending in the $69 million proposed budget. Those queries focus on pay raises for county workers, whether certain jobs can be consolidated between the county and school system to save money and how the county should begin the consolidation of rural trash-collection sites.
The larger question of how much the School Board's spending request will be cut or paid for remains unresolved.
In order to prepare for the June tax collection, the supervisors need to set the tax rate by next Wednesday, said Carol Edmonds, county finance director. The board next will discuss the budget and rate at 7 p.m. Monday on the third floor of the courthouse. If necessary, it also will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The supervisors held a public hearing last week on a 5-cent tax increase. By law, the board may adopt that rate, for which there appears to be little support among members, or a lower one. But it cannot go higher.
Because of revised revenue estimates and cuts in the trash-collection spending plan agreed to by the board last month, the $479,200 in spending initiatives in County Administrator Betty Thomas' budget can be paid for without a tax increase, Edmonds said.
The tax increase options, therefore, would pay for new school programs, she said. Yet all the options involve varying degrees of cuts to the proposed increase in school spending. Though the supervisors would cut a bulk amount of money from the school budget, it would be up to the School Board to decide which programs would be affected in the budget year that begins July 1.
The School Board's current budget is $45.3 million. In the proposed 1995-96 budget, the board is asking for $49.3 million, or an 8.7 percent spending increase composed of: $2.36 million for 16 initiatives developed as part of the Montgomery schools' six-year plan; $1.02 million for 3 percent pay raises; $311,000 for increases in the base budget to keep pace with inflation; and $256,000 to buy new buses and other vehicles.
To pay for the entire School Board request, the Board of Supervisors would need to come up with $2.2 million in new local tax money, Edmonds said.
But even with the highest possible increase of 5 cents, the School Board still would have to cut its proposed budget.
Edmonds outlined four options to balance the county budget with either no tax increase or a 1-, 2- or 3-cent rise:
At a tax rate of 69 cents per $100 of assessed value - which would amount to no tax increase after taking into account last year's reassessment - school spending could increase 1.8 percent but the School Board would need to cut $1.87 million from its 1995-96 proposed budget.
At a 70-cent rate, the schools would have 2.3 percent more money to spend, but still would have to slice $1.65 million from the proposal.
At 71 cents, the School Board would gain a 2.8 percent increase in new tax money but would have to cut $1.44 million from its proposal.
At 72 cents, the school budget would increase 3.2 percent over this year but the School Board would have to eliminate $1.22 million in other new spending.
by CNB