Insurance

Insurance

issue resolved

By SHARON KILPATRICK

Rappahannock News Staff Writer

There were no tax protestors at the public hearing on the county’s proposed budget last Wednesday, despite the advertised 75-cent tax rate.

The closest to a protestor was former Supervisor Newbill Miller, who told the board, “I came to discuss budgets in the future. Most of what you’ve done now is a done deal. But somewhere along the line the government has got to stop Vdising taxes.”

• Governments at all levels are doing studies to “find more sources of income, when it would be easier to cut spending,” he said. Mr. Miller noted that the supervisors are thinking of adding a planner to the county staff in the future. “Then you’ll want to add a secretary. You don’t need to expand the county government. There are a tremendous number of people working for the county now.

“You’re talking about another agent in the county agent’s office,” he said. “That’s another growth in the county government. They’re built in and then you don’t ever get rid of them. ”

The rest of the speakers last Wednesday were constitutional officers and their employees who asked that the county’s contribution towards their health insurance not be cut from the current $1,545 per year to $1,300.

Peggy Ralph, the county’s deputy clerk, told the supervisors, “When we came to talk to you Monday about our health insurance benefit, I was personally offended that we were greeted with hostility by the board member from Hampton District. We are not the first group nor the last group to address you who were not on the agenda. We could not leave our offices unattended. I want to thank Mr. Gilkey, who initiated the motion to let us speak, and the three members who voted for it.

“Teachers’ salaries were compared to constitutional

See INSURANCE, p. 14