Dinwiddie approves budget; pay cut removed

DINWIDDIE -- The Board of Supervisors yesterday removed a proposed 3 percent salary reduction for Dinwiddie County employees before approving a $102.7 million budget for the 2010 fiscal year.

The approved financial plan is based on a real estate property tax rate of 68 cents per $100 of assessed value and includes funding reductions to most county agencies. It includes $11 million for the school system, the same amount allocated to the system in the current fiscal year.

Under the plan, nine positions vacated in March through layoffs will remain unfilled.

The budget was unanimously approved, with Chairman Donald L. Haraway absent.

The 3 percent salary cut for county employees had been proposed by County Administrator W. Kevin Massengill.

The salary reduction would have saved the county about $250,000, Massengill said. Yesterday, county officials said the salary money would come out of the projected revenues, which surpass spending by nearly $260,000.

Also before approving the budget, county officials agreed to appropriate an additional $1.7 million to the Capital Improvement Plan from the undesignated portion of the county's general fund. The money will be set aside for the long-planned construction of a sports complex off of U.S. 460.

Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6058 or .