Bath Supervisors Approve the 2013 Budget

Warm Springs, VA – At a meeting on Tuesday night, the Bath Board of Supervisors approved the county and school budgets for fiscal year 2013. The county budget was approved at approximately $16.5 million with about $9.8 million for the schools, for a total budget of about $26.5 million.

The county is taking about $130,000 from reserves in order to balance the new budget.

Board members were in agreement on the county budget figures, but were not in agreement on the school budget. Supervisor Claire Collins proposed a five percent increase to the school budget. That would have given the schools about $450,000 in additional funding, instead of the approximately $715,000 being considered. Supervisor Collins said she believed in equity and fairness in county government and felt the schools should get a 5% increase to equal the county budget’s 5% increase in expenditures. That would give both budgets a 5% bottom line increase.

Supervisor Bruce McWilliams made a motion to approve the budget as advertised, with the addition of some changes outlined on Tuesday night, and leaving the school funding basically as it was advertised with the increase of about $715,000. His motion passed on a vote of three to two, with Supervisors Kevin Fry and Cliff Gilchrest voting yes and Supervisors Claire Collins and Bart Perdue voting no.

Supervisor Collins made a substitute motion to approve the budget as discussed with the addition of the changes, but with the increase of the school funding at about $450,000. Her motion failed on a vote of 2 to 3, with Supervisors Bruce McWilliams, Kevin Fry and Cliff Gilchrest voting against it and Supervisor Bart Perdue voting in favor.

Tax rates were also set on Tuesday night. The rates will remain the same as they are currently, at 35 cents on personal property and 48 cents on real estate.

The Board also awarded the bid on the animal shelter construction project to Nielsen Construction of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Four bids were received on the project. The Board agreed to go with Nielsen, with a bid of approximately $550,000 with a five month time frame for completion. The Board chose Nielsen because of the company’s ability to complete the project ahead of bad weather in winter.

And the Board appointed Rick Armstrong to the Board of Zoning Appeals and also appointed Shirley Lennon to the Department of Social Services Board.

Story By

Heather Niday

Heather is our Program Director and Traffic Manager. She started with Allegheny Mountain Radio as a volunteer deejay. She then joined the AMR staff in February of 2007. Heather grew up in the Richmond, Virginia, area and now lives in Arbovale, West Virginia with her husband Chuck. Heather is a wonderful flute player, and choir director for Arbovale UMC. You can hear Heather along with Chuck on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8pm as they host two hours of jazz on Something Different.

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