February 24, 2012
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors is getting a first look at the proposed FY 2012/13 budget at its meeting Friday morning.
County Executive Tom Foley presented a combined capital and operating budget of $311,677,759, balanced on an equalized tax rate of 76.4 cents on every $100 of assessed property.
The proposed tax rate is a little more than two cents higher than last year's, however because of property assessments being down, most homeowners will not see higher taxes.
The proposed revenues are larger than the FY 2011/12 adopted budget by $7.3 million, or 2.4%. On the expenditures side, school division operations will increase by $5.2 million, or 3.6%, in the recommended budget.
The budget gets the school system $1 million more than they requested and contains an additional $1.5 million in reserve funds. Supervisors will have the opportunity to decide how that unallocated money will be used.
"There's modest recovery now, so we think it's time to start looking to the future, and make sure we invest in those things in core services that are going to help us from falling behind and then have a much more difficult time catching up in the future," Foley explained.
The budget contains money for a new fire station in Ivy, an EMS service on Pantops and plans for the Crozet library.Also, all Albemarle County staff will also receive one percent raises.
Supervisors will adopt the final budget in April, but residents will have a chance to share their opinions at a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 29.
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