ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602210050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
Bedford County faces a $6.27 million budget deficit for the 1996-97 fiscal year, partly because of growing populations in county schools and jails.
A draft budget presented Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors, prepared by county staff, estimates $82.9 million in expenditures for the 1996-97 fiscal year. That's a $10.8 million increase over 1995-96 expenditures.
But even though the deficit is greater than in recent years, County Administrator Bill Rolfe said he isn't alarmed.
"There's a deficit every year" in the draft budget, Rolfe said. "It isn't anything out of the ordinary. Every year, departments and agencies submit their requests for funding, and the board whittles it down.
"Expenditures have always exceeded revenues every year I've been here. The board doesn't want me to submit them a balanced budget. They want to see what the departments are asking for and proceed from there. That's the purpose of submitting the budget to them."
Last year, the county faced a $2.4 million deficit, largely because of growth factors.
This year, the county school system estimates it will need a $6.4 million increase in its budget, largely because of debt service on construction and rising instructional costs.
The Board of Supervisors recently cut in half a School Board request for $12 million in bonds for new construction to keep up with the pace of growth.
Also, Rolfe said, "There's some big-ticket projects in there that the Board [of Supervisors] is going to have to make some decisions on. Unfortunately, a lot of it revolves around jails for adults and juveniles. Personally, I'd rather be building schools and libraries and parks than jails."
The board last year backed out of a pact with Lynchburg and other localities to enter a regional jail. Prompted by the county's decision, the state Department of Corrections and the General Assembly said it will cancel the county's lease on the Camp 24 jail annex in Moneta in 1999, the earliest opportunity.
Camp 24 will be a key part of the regional jail's overflow detention.
Ever since the state said it would take back the jail annex, the Board of Supervisors has remained committed to not rejoining the regional jail. However, the alternatives are costly.
Joining the regional jail would cost the county about $1 million over three years. Not joining the regional jail and paying other localities to house prisoners would cost about $1.15 million.
Building a new jail, which is estimated to cost about $7.2 million, would cost the county about $1.36 million in debt service over the first three years. But that's the option that looks most attractive to the supervisors because of its long-term benefits.
Therefore, the draft 1996-97 budget includes $500,000 for architectural and engineering plans for a new jail.
The budget also includes $450,000 for juvenile detention - Bedford's share of expansions at the Lynchburg Detention Home. Bedford has 20 beds at the home, but routinely has to find room for more of its juvenile offenders in other areas of the state. And that usually means more money spent for transportation and other jail costs.
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