THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606050413
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: 91 lines
Currituck County residents can look forward to a new judicial complex, more law enforcement officers, and a first-ever community park - without having their real estate property taxes go up, according to the proposed 1996-97 budget.
The tentative plan includes a 13.7 percent increase - from $16.1 million to $18.3 million - in the general fund.
That fund includes all county operations and the public school system, whose $5.2 million budget request is still being discussed in work sessions.
The county's proposed annual operating budget for the next fiscal year includes:
A $5 million judicial complex.
More personnel in the sheriff's department.
A 3 percent cost-of-living increase for county employees.
A new Airport Park.
And $75,000 in industrial park improvements.
All these plans will be funded without raising the county tax rate of 65 cents for every $100 of valuation, according to a summary handed out at Monday night's Board of Commissioners meeting.
Dan Scanlon, the county's finance director, said the $5 million judicial complex will be paid for over the next seven to 10 years with $800,000 to $900,000 in annual sales tax revenue. The complex is in the design stages and the architects met with the commissioners Monday to review the plans.
Construction of the building, near the Senior Citizens Center in Currituck, could begin as soon as this fall.
The Board also agreed to add three deputies, a drug investigator and two jailers, as well as combine two current part-time positions into another jailer position. The additions represent a $257,586, or 20.6 percent, increase for the sheriff's department and a $57,897, or 21.6 percent increase, in the jail budget.
``These increases come on top of the four additional deputies funded the last two budget years and makes the sheriff's budget the largest and most rapidly growing segment of county government,'' said County Manager Bill Richardson in his budget message.
The numbers, however, fall short of the 17 new positions that were requested by Sheriff Glenn Brinkley this year.
The only other new county position in the budget is assistant coordinator for the Currituck CountySenior Citizens Center.
A 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment is proposed for all county employees. ``This is in line with surrounding counties yet below the rumored increase for school personnel and state employees,'' Richardson said. The Board of Education budget calls for increases associated with a new high school and other schools' conversion.
These increases include an additional $4,735,349 (6.6 percent ) for current expenses, $49,292 (11.2 percent) for capital outlay and $794,130 in new costs for the school system's reorganization.
Three new county projects - a community park, fuel farm and water trunk line on county-leased land in Maple are proposed in the budget.
Airport Park will be the county's first large regional, non-school recreational facility, Richardson said. It's expected to cost about $100,000.
Proceeds from a land-transfer tax will pay for a new fuel farm that is expected to save the county money over a period of time, the county manager said.
The other new project involves a $75,000 extension of water trunk lines to an industrial park to help attract new industry.
On the revenue side of the budget, the county is expected to collect more than $10 million on an estimated tax base of $1.56 billion, with a 94.6 percent collection rate.
Other money sources had grown between March 1995 and March 1996. Sales tax collections rose 17.6 percent, from $1.7 million to $2 million. Occupancy tax receipts increased by 26 percent, from $737,000 to $926,000.
The land-transfer tax revenue generated about the same amount of money as last year, from $788,000 to $790,000, said Scanlon.
Richardson asked the commissioners to consider a new county health department building as its next major capital improvement after the judicial complex.
``With our nation moving in the direction of managed health care, the role of our local health department can only increase,'' Richardson said. ``We need to ensure that the facility serving our residents, with the new programs being discussed, is adequate to the task.''
A new incentive program to maintain an adequate number of fire and rescue volunteers also was discussed Monday night. ``Loss of volunteers is the single most contributing factor to the stress our system is experiencing,'' Richardson said.
No cost has been suggested for such a program, which is still being developed.
A copy of the complete budget is available for inspection at the Currituck County Clerk's office at the county courthouse in Currituck.
A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 8 p.m. on June 17.
The budget must be approved before July 1.
KEYWORDS: PROPOSED BUDGET CURRITUCK COUNTY TAX by CNB