Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 11, 1992 TAG: 9203110283
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The General Assembly didn't cut funds for libraries as much as it first was expected to, and it actually increased funds for county schools and the Police Department.
It also approved the county's request to impose a 10-cent per pack tax on cigarettes.
As a result, the county's 1992-93 budget might include enough money for 3 percent pay raises for school and government employees, Hodge told the supervisors Tuesday.
"I feel a lot better about the budget today than I have for the past six or eight months," he said. "The picture is beginning to look brighter."
There are some unknowns, though - such as how much state funds for social services will be cut, how much local tax revenues will increase and how much more the county will have to pay for employee health insurance.
Still, Hodge said the budget could be balanced without an increase in real estate or personal property tax rates.
He and Budget Director Reta Busher told the supervisors that:
The General Assembly rejected the county's request to raise its hotel/motel tax from 2 percent to 4 percent.
But it approved the cigarette tax, which will bring in an estimated $400,000 per year. To win support for the tax in the General Assembly, the supervisors promised to give that money to the school system.
State funding for county schools will increase $3 million next year.
Funding for the Police Department will increase from $597,000 this year to $631,000 next year.
Funding for libraries was cut by only 5 percent, rather than 50 percent as was first proposed.
But funding for social services might be cut by as much as $300,000.
But money still will be tight, and choices will have to be made.
For example, giving employees a 3 percent raise means the county might have to postpone the purchase of a new garbage truck and other vehicles, Hodge said.
Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix asked Hodge how much money would be saved if employees earning $50,000 or more weren't given raises.
Hodge didn't have an answer for that, but said he had assumed all along that he and his two assistant administrators wouldn't get a raise. That would save about $6,000, he said.
But Supervisor Harry Nickens said Hodge and his assistant administrators should get raises like other employees. "It's either across-the-board or nothing."
by CNB