Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990                   TAG: 9006130525
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: JACQUELINE B. JAMES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD                                LENGTH: Short

BEDFORD OKS BUDGET, LOWER TAX RATE

Council reduced the rate from 79 cents per $100 assessed valuation of real estate to 71 cents for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

Some residents are likely to pay more anyway because of a reassessment this year that increased the total value of city property by about 30 percent, officials said.

The effect of reassessment on each homeowner's tax bill varies, though. Officials could not estimate the average increase a Bedford homeowner can expect.

Council adopted a $19.8 million budget, which is a spending increase of 3.4 percent over this year. City Manager Jack Gross has described the spending plan as a "maintenance level" budget.

The budget includes:

A $9.3 million general fund.

An $8.9 million electricity fund.

A $1.5 million water and sewer fund.

On another matter, council members rejected a request that they give $1,000 for a joint study of a small airport for the area. Bedford County supervisors on Monday had agreed to pay their half of such a study.

But Mayor Michael Shelton said the money could be better spent on the city's water and sewer services, and that he had heard no outcry from small businesses in the area aside from those that have their own planes.

Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce officials had asked that the city and county each put up $1,000 for a preliminary study of a $4 million airport with a 4,000-foot runway for small planes.