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P.E. Committee Makes Significant Progress Toward Solving Budget Problems

   Written by on June 9, 2014 at 9:41 am

Prince Edward County Administrator Wade Bartlett presented his proposed budget for FY 15 (July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015) at a special Board of Supervisors meeting on March 25, 2014.  This proposal contained estimates of next year’s costs of existing County services, as well as expenses that could not have been predicted until recently.  According to Mr. Bartlett, County taxes based on the existing assessments and tax rates will not be sufficient to meet Prince Edward needs next year.  He recommended a 19%, or $.08 per $100 of assessed value, increase in the County real estate tax rate.  One major reason for this shortfall is that Piedmont Regional Jail costs for P.E. will be about $1.4 million for 2015.  In fact, law enforcement related expenditures for the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, Sheriff’s Department, Victim Witness, and Corrections and Detention were projected to be more than $4.5 million dollars for 2015.  Other reasons for the shortfall include more than $1.2 million needed to close one County landfill cell and open another, decreased income from the landfill, and an increase in funding for County fire departments and rescue squads.

Even though County Supervisors met eight times on the budget this spring, only about $47,000 in reductions in projected Fiscal Year 2015 expenditures had been identified in a $22 million local budget.  Supervisors voted down the proposed budget at a May 6, 2014 meeting.  Then, Supervisors voted to establish a finance or budget committee to consider whether further reductions in expenditures were possible and appropriate.  The three Committee members, Pattie Cooper-Jones, Bob Timmons, and Bobby Jones met at least three times with County Administrator Wade Bartlett and discussed both requests to support County governmental activities and donation requests from County organizations.  Many of the suggestions for reductions came from Supervisor Bob Timmons, but all three supervisors and Mr. Bartlett participated in the discussion.  Then, Mr. Bartlett met with all agency heads affected by these possible reductions to ask how they would be affected by the suggested cuts.  In nearly all cases, agency heads agreed to accept cuts in order to help County citizens by reducing the required tax increase.  At the last Budget Committee meeting, the Committee voted to recommend approximately $44,000 in reductions in donation requests and nearly $370,000 in reductions in more than 25 categories in support for County government activities.  These cuts, when added to the more than $68,000 reduction in expenses for County employees’ health insurance, passed by the entire Board on May 13, resulted in recommended cuts in the FY 2015 Budget of more than $480,000.  These cuts would result in a significant reduction in the required real estate tax increase.  The entire Board of Supervisors will vote at their regular June 10, 2014 meeting whether to accept this recommended reductions as part of the final Fiscal Year 2015 Budget.

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