Prince George official offers ideas to close budget gap
PRINCE GEORGE -- The county administrator last night offered two recommendations to balance her proposed budget, which had to be cut after the Board of Supervisors rejected a property-tax rate increase.
County Administrator Brenda G. Garton had included a 5-cent increase in the property-tax rate in her proposed $112.3 million financial plan for the next fiscal year. But on March 25, the board decided to keep the current rate of 80 cents per $100 of assessed value.
The vote left the budget with a $1.25 million deficit, said Sheila Minor, Prince George's director of finance. "We as a group need to balance our budget," she told the board last night during a public hearing on the proposed budget.
The first recommendation included $187,635 in departmental cuts. It also sought:
The second recommendation -- which included the departmental cuts, the salary-increase delay and the utilities rent -- also called for a 1 percent, or $133,402, cut in the school-system allocation.
"This is everything we could come up with" to close the gap that was created when the board decided to keep the current tax rate, Garton said. "You can pick the things that you feel are appropriate."
The board is scheduled to adopt the budget April 22.
Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6058 or
.
Advertisement