Budget

Budget From Page A1 Overall, the budget remained similar to the one presented by supervisors at their budget hearing held earlier this month. The only significant change was an additional $57,892 added to the budget for the Clerk of the Circuit Court for electronic records-keeping. However, the state will reimburse that amount. “Every month as I spend it, we get reimbursed,” Clerk Diane Bruce explained. “But until the budget was adopted last year, we didn't know how much it was going to be." The one cent increase to the real estate tax rate would raise about $165,000. If approved, those new funds would go toward the county’s General Fund and upgrades to the radio system.

The budget comes to little more than $22 million, about $2 million more than last year. County Administrator John McCarthy said. Much of the $2 million increase comes from onetime capital projects, including:

$500,000 to close a cell in the landfill. $500,000 for the Scrabble school project. $885,000 for upgrades to the radio system. $95,000 for the Civil War trails project. However, most of th»* $2 million would be paid through grants or savings, added McCarthy The budget has no new positions or programs. However, it does include a 3 percent pay increase for county employEarlier this month, Supervisor Bryant Lee suggested that the board save money by delaying construction of the Bank Road building which would eventually house the county staff. On Tuesday he said that he had changed his mind; rising construction costs and rent payments on the county's current building would cost more in the long run anyway “Actually, we’d be going backwards," he said. “ We’re not saving the taxpayer."