THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 27, 1995 TAG: 9504270355
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: EASTVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
It's budget time again in Northampton County. Beleagured residents - socked in recent years with tax increases of up to 24 percent - have received mixed news about the county's finances.
County Administrator Tom Harris proposed a $21 million budget with no tax increase. But he projects deficit spending of up to $138,000.
Harris' proposed budget, discussed at a Monday night meeting, includes an $175,000 increase in school funding. School officials want an increase more than four times that size. But Harris said Northampton should focus on ``fiscal prudence,'' and asked county employees to make the ``personal, professional and organizational sacrifices'' necessary to ``meet the common good.''
``The budget should not be perceived as merely competition between agencies,'' Harris said in a prepared statement to the Board of Supervisors. He said the budget should be viewed as a ``composite that both identifies the needs of the community, and allocates limited resources in an integrated manner to address the broad mosaic of public service needs.''
That means a 2.25 percent cost-of-living raise for county employees, four new police cruisers, conversion of some full-time jobs to part-time positions, a 6 percent increase in local funding for schools, and no tax hike.
School officials were not impressed. They insisted that their request for an additional $779,000 be funded.
``This is not a budget of want, but a budget of need,'' said Norma Spencer, finance director for the schools, about the system's funding request.
Pat Nealon, director of Northampton's special programs, said state and federal laws required the supervisors to provide enough money to hire two new special education teachers, three assistants, a new bus and two transportation aides for handicapped students. These mandates alone will cost $121,000, said Nealon.
``That will take a big chunk out of the $175,000,'' he said.
School officials said they need the full $779,000 funding increase to buy eight new buses, repair or replace old desks, buy new textbooks, and improve the schools' computer capacities.
The proposed budget includes $12.9 million for the school system and $1.6 million for social services. About $1.1 million would go to pay the school debt, with $5.3 million funding everything else, including the Sheriff's Department, county offices and landfill.
Also proposed are:
An increase of $8,710 for fire and rescue units.
$20,000 to fund the search for state and federal grants.
An increase of $6,300 for the Eastern Shore's Economic Development Commission.
$35,000 for a new merit system that would allow up to a 6 percent salary increase for county workers .
A savings of $10,000 by not renewing the county's option on land for an industrial park in Cheriton.
An 8 percent increase in funding to the Department of Social Services for state-mandated salary increases. by CNB