.jpg)
Just three citizens spoke at Monday’s public hearing on Rockbridge County’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The Board of Supervisors is slated to adopt the budget during its regular meeting this Monday, May 13.
The proposed budget calls for general fund spending of $64,471,724 – an increase of 13.5 percent over the current year. All tax and fee rates would remain the same under the proposed spending plan.
The real estate tax rate is to stay at 61 cents per $100 value, personal property tax rate is to remain $4.25 and the machinery and tools tax is to stay at $2.55. Personal property tax relief is being set at 27 percent. The capital construction fund is budgeted at $801,875, the capital purchases fund is set at $479,600 and the American Rescue Plan Act funding is budgeted at $4,192,253.
County employees are to be given 5 percent pay raises. New employee positions to be created include three additional fire and rescue captains and two parks and recreation crew members.
The local appropriation for the schools would be $17,302,686, which would be an increase of $583,119, or 3.5 percent, over this year. The county would provide $650,836 to the Rockbridge Regional Library, which would be an increase of $65,418, or 11.17 percent.
Two of the speakers at Monday’s public hearing urged the supervisors to fully fund the library’s requested funding of $670,996, which is $20,160 more than what is proposed in the budget.
Julie Goyette, library director, noted that the county is the library’s biggest source of funding. Without full funding, services would have to be reduced, she said.
Echoing these sentiments, Garnette Teass spoke specifically about how the Glasgow branch of the library system is “an invaluable community resource.” In addition to its trove of books and other materials that it loans out to patrons, the library is also a “safe and welcoming gathering place for the community. It contributes to our quality of life.”
Also speaking at the public hearing was Steve Hart, who admonished the supervisors for the 13.5 percent increase in spending that’s proposed in the budget. He criticized the county’s borrowing for new projects. “Pay off your old projects before you start on new ones,” he advised.
