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By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON
Itappahannock New* Staff Writer Without a single word of explanation or debate, the Rappahannock supervisors voted unanimously at Monday’s special budget meeting to set a tax rate of $5.30 per $100 of assessed value on real estate for 198182.
The vote lopped 40 cents off the levy advertised for public hearing one week ago. At that hearing, no action was taken on proposed expenditures nor was there any discussion of possible cuts.
Monday’s vote came after a long executive session in which budget reductions and additions were agreed upon by the supervisors. Chairman E. P. Luke justified the private meeting on the grounds that several adjustments related to personnel and therefore qualified as executive session material under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act.
Judging from Luke’s later report, however, many of the items acted upon had nothing to do with personnel or any other category listed in the Freedom of Information Act as legal for discussion in private, away from public scrutiny.
According to Luke, reductions came in the following places:
—$2,000 from salary for the chairman of the board of supervisors, leaving pay for that position at $1,000 with the vice-chairman receiving $800 and the rest of the , board members $500 each.
(The chairman’s salary was to be increased as a result of Luke’s agreement to staff an office in the court house on a part-.ime basis. With his decision to resign announced last week, this arrangement has been cancelled. As with Monday’s budget cuts, there was never any public discussion of Luke’s proposal to serve as de facto county administrator.)
—$8,560 from fire and
92.5%