First Look at a $42.56 Million Fiscal 2007 County Budget
Document a Work in Progress; No Action Taken

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
       Members of the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors got their first look at a $42.56 million fiscal 2007 county budget, Monday.
       No action was taken on the budget, which County Administrator W.J. Caudill stressed was just a working document.
       All figures listed he said are tentative and subject to change.
       North Grundy Supervisor Carroll Branham was not present for the meeting.
Initial projections listed show the difference between anticipated revenues of $35.62 and proposed expenditures to be more than $7 million.
      In order to balance the budget, Caudill said the board must either adjust anticipated revenue figures, raise taxes, use part of the fund balance on hand for one-time spending categories, cut spending, or any combination thereof.
       He cautioned board members, however, noting that the board must maintain a fund balance amounting to 10 percent of the total budget, including the full school budget, which drives the overall county budget to about $81 million, Caudill said. As a result, he said the board should maintain about $10 million as its fund balance.
     It was announced earlier that the county in fact had a fund balance of some $16 million. Included in that was some $1 million the county received back from the federal government representing monies collected through asset forfeitures in the Operation Big Coon Dog Case; $650,000 from the sale of the former Vansant school property to Vansant Food City; and better than expected revenue collections, including coal severance and gas taxes collected.
     South Grundy Supervisor Roger Rife questioned why the board had to maintain the balance even on flow-through money.
     Caudill said it was his understanding from the auditors that was what was required.
     Board members looked at only a few items in the budget, including school budget funding.
       As proposed, the school budget contains local funding of some $8.4 million -- the minimum required by the state for the coming year. An additional $1.5 million in local funding is in the budget for debt service on Riverview and another $217,000 is in the budget for debt service on literary fund loans.

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Proposed Revenues Stand at $35,62,096
Fund Projections, Allocations Categories Listed

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
        Proposed budget revenues for fiscal 2007 stand at $35,62,096, according to figures provided Monday to members of the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors.
       The revenues are less then fiscal year 2006 amounts of $36.62 million and are more than $31.47 million collected to date in fiscal 2006.
      Projected numbers for major revenue sources show real estate revenues at $5.2 million, less than the $5.35 million collected to date with another quarter to go.
      Delinquent real estate taxes projected to be collected for the current year at $155,000, have totaled $286,046 in collections to date, with another quarter to go. The amount budgeted for fiscal 2007 is $200,000.
      The budget also projects mineral tax collections of $1.7 million. Some $1.67 million has been collected to date, with another quarter still to be added in.
    Delinquent mineral tax collections are projected at $31,000; and land redemptions are estimated at $120,000.
      The total amount of general fund revenues is projected at $7.25 million, less than the $7.47 million collected to date.
      The proposed budget also lists projected public service tax collections at $525,000, and personal property taxes of $3.34 million, up from $2.99 million in fiscal 2006 , but less than the $3.35 million collected to date, with another quarter to go.
       Mineral license taxes are projected at $6.35 million, up from $5.29 million in fiscal 2006. Some $4.93 million has been collected to date, with another quarter still to go.
      Methane gas tax collections are projected at $2.15 million, up from $1.6 million in 2006. Actual collections to date total $2.13 million, with another quarter still to go.

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County Budget Increases Projected
Additional Adjustments Upcoming

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
       A number of increases are projected in the $42.56 million county budget now proposed for fiscal 2007.
      All of the figures are tentative and subject to change, according to County Administrator W.J. Caudill, who noted members of the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors will be adjusting the numbers in the coming weeks to arrive at a balanced budget. They took their first look at the budget Monday (see related story, this issue).
      County employee raises have not been figured into the proposal now being considered and an anticipated 12 percent hospitalization increase has also not been factored in to departmental totals listed here.
       Departmental budget requests, as they compared to amounts approved for the current fiscal year, are as follows.

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