ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 27, 1996 TAG: 9611270028
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
The Department of Social Services has finally received the go-ahead to occupy its tailor-made offices in the new Montgomery County Health and Human Services building.
Social Services' half of the county-owned building - completed nearly three months ago - has remained empty during a protracted landlord-tenant dispute.
The issue of who would pay the higher rent for the new structure in Christiansburg was temporarily resolved Monday after a closed-door meeting between the county's Board of Supervisors and Social Services Board.
Under the agreement, Social Services can move into the Health and Human Services building immediately. In return, the county will receive about $40,000 from Social Services, an amount generated from a federal grant that will not deplete the local department's operating budget.
There is still no formal lease between the parties. The agreement covers only moving costs and rent until the present fiscal year ends in June. Meanwhile, the Social Services Department has agreed to "aggressively lobby" the state to pay a greater share of the rent.
If the state fails to come through - as it did this year - there's no assurance Social Services won't be evicted, local Director Dan Farris said.
Both the county and Social Services were banking on the 1996 General Assembly to appropriate additional money to cover rent in the Health and Human Services building, a $3.4 million structure primarily financed by a 1993 local bond referendum.
Instead the legislature decided to study the issue. And the state has so far declined to help, which left the county and Social Services at odds over how to cover the increased rent for the new building.
The Social Services Department pays $18,600 annually for its present outmoded offices on Roanoke Street in Christiansburg. Annual rent for the new building will be about $71,000. Neither side wanted to dock its operating budget for the difference.
Farris said the state study of space needs for local Social Services departments is finished. It will recommend that the 1997 General Assembly provide additional funding.
State Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, said he'll first wait and see what Gov. George Allen includes in his budget proposal, which is usually released in late December. Then, if the additional money for Social Services is not included, he will act.
"I am going to submit amendments to see if we can come up with that money," Marye said Tuesday. "I think the state should fund that portion and I'm going to work hard to make sure it's done."
Until then, the agreement established Monday will serve as a stop-gap measure.
"This is not what the Board of Supervisors or the Social Services Board wanted," Supervisor Nick Rush said. "It's the best of a bad situation."
Supervisors Chairman Henry Jablonski said the board had "a moral obligation" to strike an arrangement with Social Services to occupy the building. The 1993 bond referendum approved by county voters specified the new building was needed for the Social Services Department.
However, occupancy of the half of the new building designed for Social Services was in doubt while the county and the department have negotiated the rent dispute over the past six weeks. Farris said one option listed during the negotiations involved laying off Social Services workers to create additional revenue.
The compromise approved 6-1 by the Board of Supervisors (with member Joe Stewart voting no) involved a $40,000 federal grant that requires matching local money. "Probably the county was hoping there would be another alternative," Farris said.
The resolution approved by the board also stipulates that Social Services won't ask for additional local funds during the present fiscal year.
There's still a chance the state will come up with money to supplement Social Services' additional rent, Farris said. He's optimistic that the General Assembly will help out when it convenes in January.
For now, the Social Services Department can join the state Health Department and the county Human Services Department, agencies that have already occupied the new building. Farris said plans are to move in Dec. 12-13.
Asked why the county and Social Services Department allowed the issue of rent to remain unresolved and half of the new Health and Human Services building to stand empty for three months, the Rev. Harry B. Scott III, the Social Services Board chairman said, "No one is blameless."
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB