Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 4, 1990 TAG: 9005040175
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Council voted unanimously Thursday to ask city officials to prepare the legal documents to approve the budget that requires an increase in the city's cigarette tax and the proration of personal property taxes.
Council plans to vote on the budget at its meeting on Monday, but that is expected to be only a formality because no council member has proposed any changes.
The $152 million spending plan contains two parts: a $150.6 million "basic" budget that can be financed with existing tax rates and a $1.4 million "supplemental" budget that requires a higher cigarette tax, the proration of personal property taxes and increases in other fees.
The cigarette tax would be increased from 5 cents to 10 cents per pack, and the proration of personal property taxes would begin Jan. 1. Several other unidentified fees also would be increased.
Herbert recommended that $829,600 of the extra revenue be given to the schools. He wants the money to be used for a full-day kindergarten program, a longer high school day, remedial teachers and a dropout prevention program.
The expansion of the full-day kindergarten and the longer high school day would be phased in over the next three years as part of the plan to bring city schools into parity with Roanoke County schools.
Even if voters reject the consolidation of the city and county, Councilman Howard Musser said, council will fund the school programs because "they are needed."
The consolidation talks focused attention on the differences between city and county schools, Musser said, but the outcome of the vote will not affect the funding for all-day kindergarten and other programs.
Council met with the School Board to discuss the school budget and the board's request for an additional $2.1 million in local funds - above the increase of $3.7 million in state and local money that was provided for schools in Herbert's basic budget.
Although the city manager recommended that council provide only $829,600 of the $2.1 million requested by the board, he told the board and council that he does not think his recommendation should be described as a compromise.
"I may be hypersensitive about this, but I don't view this as a compromise. I feel this is a package that will move the city forward," Herbert said.
The city manager said he wants the $829,600 to be spent on a full-day kindergarten, a longer high school day and other school programs that he identified.
He did not recommended any additional money for pay raises for teachers. This has upset some teachers and Gary Waldo, executive director of the Roanoke Education Association, who believe that part of the money should have been earmarked for higher raises.
Council cannot legally require the School Board to spend the money as he proposed, Herbert said, but he wanted assurance that it would do so.
James M. Turner Jr., chairman of the board, assured Herbert that the board will use the money as he recommended, "barring unforeseen circumstances." Although the board may be unable to make a legal commitment, he said, "at least we can make a moral commitment."
The board had hoped to provide larger pay raises for teachers in the next fiscal year, but it will not receive as much state money as it had hoped, Turner said.
The school budget provides a 5.1 percent pay raise for teachers, in addition to so-called tier raises for about 23 percent of the teachers, ranging from 2.6 percent to 18.4 percent.
Superintendent Frank Tota said that most of the unfunded $1.3 million portion of the board's $2.1 million request would have been spent on larger raises.
by CNB