Campbell County's priorities lie in reorganization

Campbell County’s priorities for the next year likely will focus on internal reorganization to find ways to save money instead of projects requiring spending.

First and foremost, County Administrator David Laurrell said, is presenting a balanced budget with no tax increase. Most other initiatives will focus on either changing internal policies or completing projects already in progress, such as renovations to Concord Elementary School, completing the Concord water line and renovations and additions to the Rustburg government complex.

The list of priorities, which county supervisors vote on each January, will go before the board during Tuesday’s meeting. It will be used to guide officials as they prepare the fiscal year 2010 budget, which is presented in April.

Laurrell said that while local revenues have come in near what was forecast, the 2010 budget will be smaller than 2009’s because of

significant reductions in state funding. And in order to deal with an expected $4.5 million reduction in state money for schools, Laurrell said the county likely will dip into its $10.3 million reserve pot to lessen the pain.

One of the only proposals not focused on internal operations, Laurrell said, will be to start planning to increase broadband access in areas of the county that are

underserved or not served at all.

A cost-saving policy the board already voted on was to enact a 180-day hiring freeze. Supervisors approved that 4-3 earlier this month. The freeze is expected to reduce personnel costs by about 5 percent over the next two years.

“Instead of laying off people who already have a job, we will not fill vacancies for a period of time so the vacancies roll from one department to another,” Laurrell said. “If we have a critical need, we’ll look to internal staff in a less critical area to fill it.”

Other priorities include:
- Taking the first steps to extend a water line down Leesville Road to Evington. That involves working with the Campbell County Utilities and Services Authority to create a preliminary engineering report to determine the basic design, overall costs, grant availability and local costs. The extension had been discussed several years ago, but the project was scrapped because of a lack of funding and users along the line.

- Completing an update to the county’s comprehensive plan. That is due by the end of the year. The plan is updated every five years and provides a blueprint to supervisors and planners on where various types of development should go.

- Increasing mileage efficiency by 50 percent over the next several years as a way to save money. That entails identifying which county jobs have a critical need for vehicles and when those vehicles are scheduled for upgrades, and purchasing new ones with better mileage per gallon.

“If we can move from a vehicle that gets 21 miles to one that gets 32 miles per gallon, then we’ve increased efficiency by 50 percent in that one vehicle,” Laurrell said.