Commissioners hope for budget passage Tuesday

Bedford County Board of Commissioners will hold a budget meeting Tuesday night to consider last minute amendments to the current fiscal year's budget, and -- barring any problems -- to approve a new budget for the new fiscal year which begins Wednesday.

If the budget is approved Tuesday night, it will be the first time in many years that a budget has been in place on time. In the past, the county would have to pass a "continuing resolution" allowing departments to continue to operate at the previous year's spending levels until a new budget was in place. The new budget might not be approved until the regular August commission meeting or even later. Finance Director Robert Daniel, since he was hired in 2007, has worked to get budget documents in place earlier.

The amendments to the 2008-09 fiscal year budget account for unexpected expenses or revenues, so that the final budget is not overspent. In order to cover for unexpected expenses, money must be taken out of underspent line items and/or the "fund balance" for that particular budget. The fund balance is the financial cushion in the budget which carries forward from year to year.

On Friday, Bedford County Board of Education met to approve the final amendment of the year to the school budget, which is one of those which will be considered Tuesday night. The biggest expense accounted for in the school budget amendment is employee health insurance. Not only did premiums rise, but more new employees than expected decided to take health insurance coverage.

School board members said their general purpose school fund budget amendment increases total spending by only $91,315 out of a total budget of $9.8 million, and said the county's conservative budgeting has helped keep Bedford County out of the crises that have affected some nearby counties.

Bedford County does not anticipate any property tax increase for the 2009-10 fiscal year budgets which will be considered Tuesday.

If you go

Bedford County Board of Commissioners will hold its special called year-end budget meeting 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the second floor courtroom at the county courthouse.