Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 8, 1993 TAG: 9306080058
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
That's according to a report on consolidated finance departments in other Virginia localities prepared for next Tuesday's Montgomery County School Board meeting.
The meeting was scheduled for tonight but had to be postponed, when Superintendent Harold Dodge was called to Kansas City to interview for the superintendent's job there. Dodge ends five years as Montgomery County's superintendent on June 30.
A study conducted by county school administrators for the the School Board also shows that 79 percent of Virginia school divisions have separate data-processing departments and 96 percent have separate personnel departments.
The School Board is considering an April 21 proposal by the County Administrator Betty Thomas's staff that the county's and school system's finance and purchasing departments be consolidated. The board asked Dodge to find out what other state school divisions had considered consolidation.
The Board of Supervisors directed Thomas in May 1992 to prepare a plan for consolidation.
The supervisors said they were interested in merging school and county departments as a way of improving accountability and efficiency in reporting county finances. A Radford firm that audits the county's books twice has recommended that the supervisors consider consolidation.
A desire by supervisors to get better financial information about the schools, particularly at budget time, has been the motivating force behind the move toward consolidation.
The proposal by the county's staff said the county could save money, including $237,000 in salary and benefits over the next five years.
Under the county staff's proposal, six School Board purchasing and payroll employees would be combined with the county's financial department. The duties of the county's purchasing agent, who recently retired, would be picked up by the school system's purchasing agent.
The study the School Board will get next week shows that consolidation generally works better in cities than in counties.
It also shows that six school systems that formerly shared finance functions with their local governments have returned to separate operations. Poor service and treatment as a "second-class citizen" were given as the reasons.
by CNB