A story published in the Times-Gazette last week about the county budget listed various county funds and how they were projected in the new fiscal year compared to the 2007-08 fiscal year.

The story discussed the county's tight financial situation, and how the finance committee has requested cuts from county departments. Yet some of the expenditure funds showed increases, raising comments and questions.

The county's various budget funds and appropriations are detailed, and analyzing the county's spending is sometimes a complicated matter.

Some departments rely heavily on local tax revenue -- property tax, sales tax and so on. Other departments, even though they are considered part of local government, participate in state or federal programs which provide most or all of their funding, and are subject to state or federal regulations which determine what they have to spend.

That includes things like the child nutrition fund. Free and reduced price school lunches are paid for by the federal government, and lunch prices from full-price students generate revenue as well. The total amount being spent is determined by the number of students, the cost of food, and so on.

There's also Bedford County Nursing Home, which is set up as a self-supporting business and doesn't take any tax revenue for its normal operation. Similarly, the school-age care program is paid for by fees charged to parents.

County officials are sometimes limited by federal or state regulations from cutting certain projects or programs. The state, for example, has a "maintenance of effort" law for school funding. The law is intended to ensure that when the state increases its school funding, local governments don't use that as an excuse to drop their local funding. The law basically requires the local government to spend at least as much per student each year as it spent the year before.

The actual formula used to calculate maintenance-of-effort compliance is a complicated one, and sometimes local officials aren't completely sure that their budget will be approved by the state. This year, officials have said they believe the proposed school budget meets maintenance-of-effort tests.

Bedford County Financial Management Committee approved its budget recommendations on Monday, and they will go before the full county commission 7 p.m. Tuesday for approval. The commission meets in the large second-floor courtroom at the county courthouse.