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1 o the editor:
Some of your readers will recal that at county budget time last year we did rather extensive analysis ol the proposed budget for 1985-86 and presented the findings in four reports, published in the News. Now, with budget-making time at hand again, it might be worthwhile to review those findings, with an eye to the county’s needs in the 1986-87 year:
A look at the expenditure side of the budget revealed thqt total outlays — estimated then at $3.9 million for 1984-85 — had more than doubled in four years, but that much of the added outlay had been drained away by inflation. And, while the total was up by more than a fourth even after allowing for inflation, much of the money had gone into construction, rather than im provements in services.
Some programs had fared well, apparently reflecting significant shifts in the community’s priorities in four years. Public safety — the protection of our persons and possessions — had come out a big winner. The percentage slice of total outlay going to the sheriffs office and jail had nearly doubled.
Education had lost considerable ground, dropping from 73 percent of the budget total to 69 percent. Instruction outlays — salaries, teaching materials and the like — showed only a token rise of 4.6 percent in four years, after inflation. While other Virginia communities, with which this community must compete for good teachers, were hustling to catch up in the matter of teacher pay, Rappahannock barely managed to keep teacher’s pay in line with inflation.
Result: For minimum teacher salaries, Rappahannock had dropped in four years from 74th among the
89.7%