By SHARON KILPATRICK

By SHARON KILPATRICK

Rappahannock Newt Staff Writer

The Board of Supervisors voted to pass the school budget without changes and cut about $120,000 from the rest of the county budget in three work sessions before agreeing to advertise the county budget for public hearing next month with a real estate tax rate of 50 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value.

That tax rate will still require the general fund surplus to be drawn down by about $235,000 to meet expenses. County Administrator John McCarthy said further cuts might be possible once the supervisors decide what they want to do about trash handling.

The budget includes $85,000 to purchase and develop a waste transfer station to replace the dumpster sites at Huntly and Scrabble. It also includes the same amount for hauling trash that is being spent this year on hauling from the two dumpster sites.

At last Thursday’s meeting to act on the school budget, Hubert Gilkey, board chairman, said he wished more people had been at the public hearing on the school budget. “I feel it was a well-presented budget,” he said, making the motion to approve it as presented.

Hampton District representative Mike Massie seconded the motion, which passed unanimously, Mr. Massie noted that the county share has increased by $269,000. “The state is not paying the same share,” he said.

The supervisors also considered the budgets of the constitutional officers last Thursday. They cut $20,000 from the budget of the Commissioner of Revenue when they decided to purchase a computer system for that office and the Treasurer’s Office by buying it over a three-year period rather than all at once.

The computer will have two terminals in each office. It will handle information on assessments, land use, and personal property. It will save time in both offices and help with billing.