Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 12, 1995 TAG: 9504120041
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: CURRENT EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Several supervisors suggested at a meeting Monday night that County Administrator Joe Morgan rework his overall budget proposal to cut out an additional 3 percent. Morgan will return with such a budget soon.
"I agree, we've got to do some cutting," said Chairman Jerry White. "Just because we've got it doesn't mean we have to spend it."
The budget outline Morgan proposed Monday night showed a $17.2 million county budget, up 5 percent over the current budget. Anticipated revenue would be sufficient to cover it, so no tax increase would be needed, he said.
Morgan had already cut out about $1 million from the total of all agency requests.
His budget would have given the School Board its $8.3 million from the county, up 6 percent or about $500,000 over what the county provided this year. It also recommended $544,000, a 28 percent increase, for capital outlay projects.
The budget would provide a reserve of more than $2 million, a 42 percent increase, but several supervisors wondered whether that was enough.
Supervisor Bruce Fariss said the county could face unanticipated expenses in the current renovation and expansion of its brick courthouse, the closing of Cloyds Mountain landfill, and capital improvements if some county buildings should suddenly need major work. He said it also will be expensive to prepare the former AT&T site for industrial development, and that such development is the best investment that can be made in the county's future.
"I look at the school system and say, 'Do we really want to give them everything they ask for?'" Fariss said. "My concern is, if we down-spend the economic reserve, we don't have the money to spend on economic development."
"I'd like to see us look toward a balanced budget within the expenditures of the current year," Supervisor Pete Crawford said.
Since the board has five members, those two supervisors and White will represent a majority in any budget vote. They suggested that Morgan bring back a revised budget with further cuts.
In other business, the board voted to extend until further notice an outdoor burning ban already in effect.
Morgan, in his capacity as emergency services director, had issued the emergency burning ban because of dry conditions. It became effective last Saturday, but had to be approved by the board to continue beyond five days.
The board also agreed to consider dissolving the joint administration of the Comprehensive Services Act for Youth and Families which, for nearly two years, has seen the counties of Pulaski, Giles and Floyd and the city of Radford working together on services involved in keeping families intact.
Much of the administrative responsibility has fallen on James Wallis, Pulaski County's social services director, and Wallis told the board that administration of the act is becoming more complicated at the state level and would take even more of his time.
"Each jurisdiction has a slightly different agenda as to what they want to see happen," he said, and the size of the administrative board has grown to some 18 members. That not only makes administration cumbersome, he said, but makes it difficult even to set up meetings.
He said Pulaski County could continue joint administration with Giles County without encountering those problems. He will present a plan for consideration at the next board meeting, which will be held at 7 p.m. on April 24. A public hearing on the 1995-96 budget will be one week later, on May 1. The board is scheduled to adopt a budget May 22.
by CNB