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looking for ways to cut the advertised County budget for FY 2007-08,
and they finally settled on cuts that would reduce the proposed nine
cent tax increase to seven cents per $100 assessed value. That will
mean next year's tax rate will be 48 cents per $100 value.
Finance Chairman Doug Bowman led most of the discussion on the proposed
cuts after going through many of the departments' requests line by
line. Supervisors, while taking no formal vote, indicated they will
support a $49,000 cut in the $514,399 request from the County
Industrial Development Authority leaving the Authority with a $465,399
budget for the coming year.
Another cut that the Board is expected to approve is one for $25,000 to
the Southside Community Services Board with the agency ending up
getting $78,152 rather than the requested $103,152.
In both cases Board members had specific areas that they felt funding
might be cut, although the final decision on where the reductions are
made will be left to the department heads. For the IDA the cuts were
targeted at the request for $25,000 in reserve funds; $5,000 for a new
copier; $2,000 for cell phone upgrades and $7,500 for tuition and
seminar reimbursements, as well as $4,000 for a website upgrade and
$5,000 for debt service.
In cutting the Community Service Board's request, Supervisors noted
their disappointment in the agency's lack of emphasis on psychiatric
services for children.
However, the biggest change in the budget came on a suggestion from
ED#5 Supervisor James Edmunds who asked that the estimated $650,00
expense for collecting and transferring solid waste to the regional
landfill in Mecklenburg County for the first six months of 2008 be
taken from the County's reserve fund, which currently exceeds $10
million rather than having the added expense paid for by a hike in real
estate taxes.
The Board also approved a $15,000 contribution to the Crossing of the
Dan project which had not earlier been included in the budget.
Most of the other departments and agencies were held to "level funding"
from the previous year's budget although Supervisors did approve a
$12,000 contribution to Danville Community College for the next five
years to allow for participation, along with the City of Danville and
Pittsylvania County, in the site development of a new maintenance
building which the college expects to build in 2008.
Supervisors will give their final approval to the new budget during
their Monday, June 25 meeting which begins at 6:30 p.m. in the second
floor meeting room of the Mary Bethune Complex in Halifax.
In other business Monday evening Supervisors indicated they will seek
permission from the General Assembly for enabling legislation which
will allow the county to add a solid waste disposal fee to county
residents' electric bills. However, they set no amount of the projected
fee which will have to be determined as the expense of solid waste
disposal becomes more defined. They also indicated they will begin
collecting real estate taxes twice a year — in June and December —
beginning in fiscal year 2008 rather than billing the total amount in
December.