ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 14, 1996 TAG: 9605140034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
Like a car salesman and a buyer haggling over the price of a new model on the lot, the School Board made its offer, and the supervisors countered.
In the end, the School Board got $443,961 less than it sought.
So Monday, when the School Board met to decide what to cut from its initial proposal, the five-minute discussion seemed anti-climactic.
Because the budget had been discussed over and over, School Board members were well aware that the supervisors had given them just enough new local money - $1.2 million worth - to take care of their major concerns.
Superintendent Len Gereau and his staff tinkered with the budget to find $443,000 of relatively painless reductions, and the board approved Gereau's 27-item list with only one minor change.
No jobs, salary increases or programs were cut. But board members said two cuts - $136,600 for three school buses, and $57,700 to supplement employees' hospitalization insurance - bothered them the most.
Asked if he is happy with the final budget numbers, board member Steve Flora said he wouldn't go that far.
"I think the word to use is satisfied," he said. "We'll be able to survive with what we've got."
Supervisors had discussed cutting the school budget further. School Superintendent Len Gereau had said that if the $1.2 million in new money wasn't funded, several other items would be on the chopping block, including politically charged ones such as new high school band uniforms and the driver-education program for students.
Board member Carl Dudley asked for the only change made to the cut list. The board agreed to include in its budget $8,000 for a pupil drop-off area at Ferrum Elementary School for students who don't ride the bus.
To offset that addition, one of several new vehicles funded in the budget will be eliminated.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB