Bedford set to present balanced county budget

BEDFORD — Bedford County is set to advertise a balanced budget with a slight increase in general fund revenues and no changes to existing tax rates.

Funding to Bedford County Public Schools is proposed to stay level at $36.2 million, though unlike years past the school division’s budget is not set to be advertised in conjunction with the county budget due to uncertainty in state figures.

The Board of Supervisors voted Thursday, with one member absent, to present a budget proposal with a projected $83.9 million general fund. The total is nearly $200,000 more than the current year’s figure.

The board is expected to take a final vote on the budget and tax rates April 12, a week after giving the public a chance to comment on the proposals.

School officials are slated to pass the division’s budget next week and submit it to the county government. Supervisors agreed Thursday to discuss the schools’ figures March 29 with Superintendent Douglas Schuch and the school board chair present.

The majority of supervisors said Thursday they are not in agreement with Schuch’s initial recommendation to close elementary schools in Body Camp and Thaxton, one step among several he said was necessary to offset what was feared to be a $7 million shortfall.

Bedford County Administrator Kathleen Guzi said Thursday the division does not yet fully know the impact of the new state budget, but its figures are set to improve.

“We know there’s going to be a swing of a couple million dollars more ... we know it’s an increase,” Guzi said of the state budget’s effect on the schools.

Schuch said earlier this week in a phone interview he was “encouraged” by the new state numbers and expects to revise his budget proposal but “fine details” were still unclear.

“It’s my hope we’ll get enough additional money from the state to restore those two schools,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Roger Cheek said.

The county was facing close to a $1.5 million deficit heading into Thursday’s meeting. The supervisors agreed to keep about 20 positions vacant, reduce funding for vehicle maintenance, cut funding to outside agencies by 5 percent and reduce Sunday hours at solid waste convenience centers to bring the deficit to just less than $500,000.Guzi said that new state numbers are not yet “definitive” but additional revenue from the state would bring that total out of the red to a projected $185,000 surplus that she recommended be placed into a reserve fund.

The budget did not include pay raises for about 350 county employees and health costs jumped by 17.5 percent, Guzi said.

Funding for public safety, general government administration, judicial administration and community development departments are set to slightly increase in the new budget.

Funding for health and welfare, public works and recreational and cultural departments are set to slightly decrease.

The county’s debt service is set to fall 2.1 percent to $2.3 million and the capital improvement fund is set to increase by $1.7 million, mainly because the county must pay for upcoming reassessments and not because of new projects.

Separate from the general fund, the Bedford County Nursing Home’s fund is set at $5 million, a 3 percent increase — and daily rates will not change. The Bedford Group Homes fund is set at $2 million, a 4 percent decrease. The solid waste fund is set at $2.4 million, a 23 percent decrease.

A copy of the proposed 2010-2011 county budget is available for review during normal office hours in the county administration office at 122 East Main St. in Bedford.