BUILDING FUND NEEDED

BUILDING FUND NEEDED

On Wednesday, April 7 the Rap•pahannock County Board of Supervisors will meet to adopt a tenative budget for the year 1954-55.

One of the basic fundamentals of sound budgeting is to allow depreciation for County buildings that will have to be replaced and to set aside each year-as these buildings depreciate a replacement fund. Rappahannock may take pride in * having provided for its. citizens a remodeled# Courthouse and also adequate offices for its County officials. A new jail has been built recently. Several years before the Courthouse was renovated the Board of Supervisors very wisely laid aside funds for the purpose. *

Now the County and the Board of Supervisors are faced with <a more difficult and serious building problem. Our schools are both wearing out and inadequate. An inspection of either the Flint Hill, Washington, or Sperryville Schools should be sufficient evidence of this.

Unfortunately no depreciation of the County Schools has been taken into account in the county budgeting and there has been no building fund set aside. But luckily Rappahannock had a windfall several years ago. During Governor Battle’s administration, state funds were allocated to Rappahannock for school building purposes. The County has not seen fit to take advantage of this fund of approximately $100,000.00. To do so It will have to raise money locally.

Sound business as well as sound accounting practices seem to demand that we make a start at least toward raising money for a building fund if for ho other reason than to keep the Battle Fund. No one knows, but it is a good guess that if Rappahannock does not take advantage of this Battle Fund, the next General Assembly will find a use for it. Each succeeding year the State’s institutional requirements become greater.

Therefore, let us act now. Let’s start to set aside each year a fund to use with the Battle money for capital improvements.