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| Rockingham County's budget at $73.1M |
| By Michael Mccord |
| Published: 04/08/2009 |
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The slumping real estate market contributed to the estimated decrease of more than $430,000 in deed registrations for the Rockingham County budget — a revenue shortfall that led to a 4 percent increase for county property taxpayers. The $73.1 million 2009 operating budget, a 1 percent increase over 2008, was finalized by the Rockingham County elected official delegation in mid-February. Rockingham County Commissioner Maureen Barrows said the county came close to realizing its goal of a zero increase budget, but rising fixed costs and declining revenues made it difficult. "We've had a lean and mean budget for a long time, and we did everything we could this time by making a wide range of cuts to get to the bare minimum to provide essential services," Barrows said. "We didn't cut any programs, but we didn't add anything. We were able to do this and not lay anyone off or eliminate essential positions." She said the budget even allowed long-overdue 2 percent pay raises for county employees. "We kept health care costs down and have eliminated all out-of-state travel and reduced the number of conferences our employees can attend," she said. Portsmouth City Manager John Bohenko said he would have preferred to have no increase for Portsmouth property taxpayers, but "there's not much we can do at the municipal level because the jail and nursing home are run by the county." Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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