Budget hearings begin Monday

County leaders will begin piecing together the 2011 budget Monday, but offices and agencies asking for additional money will likely walk away empty-handed, the county mayor said.

Mayor Claude Ramsey didn't even want to discuss the particulars of the budget when asked about it during the commission's regular meeting last Wednesday 5.

"I'm only going to tell you it will be a tight year," Mr. Ramsey said. "We're going to work our way through those hearings. We've suggested people not request more."

County Finance Administrator Louis Wright said that hasn't stopped some department and agency officials from asking for more.

"There won't be many of those," he said. "Most of them are pretty aware that we've got a revenue crisis going on." State and municipal government coffers have been battered by the recession for months.

The county is required to pass a budget by June 30. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

One hitch is the county Department of Education budget. The presentation was scheduled for Wednesday but has been postponed because schools administrators said they are not ready, Mr. Wright said. The next scheduled meeting of the Board of Education is May 20.

If the schools do not meet the deadline, the county can pass a continuation budget, Mr. Wright said. Either way, he said, the county's new spending plan will not differ much from the current $627 million budget.

The schools budget is nearly half of that at about $359 million.

He expects health insurance costs to increase as well as utility costs because the county recently acquired the McDaniel Building, an old nursing home.

Sometime after the hearings, the county mayor will present his budget. That usually happens in June, Mr. Wright said.

Other commissioners did not want to discuss what costs might go up or down.

"It's too early to have that discussion," Commissioner Jim Coppinger said.

Commissioner Fred Skillern said the school budget is likely increase simply because of growth. But for most agencies and departments, budgets will be more of the same.

"Everybody wants more money and there'll be no more money," he said. "Unless you raise taxes."

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