The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996                TAG: 9604040323
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: By KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: SUFFOLK                            LENGTH: Short :   25 lines

SUFFOLK OKS $40.4 MILLION FOR PROJECTS

The Suffolk City Council approved spending $40,379,000 on its 1996-97 capital improvements budget Wednesday night.

The city's construction and investment plans budget is a 242-percent increase from last year's $11.8 million in capital spending.

This year, city officials divided the budget into two parts: general fund and utility spending.

The general fund budget, which totals $25.5 million, includes $11.2 million for the new court complex downtown. The utility fund budget totals about $14.7 million.

The council will decide in June which utility extension projects it will fund next year. by CNB