County turns over budget documents to newspaper

Alleghany County Manager Don Adams delivered a large packet - more than 300 pages - of budget materials to the editor's desk in the offices of The Alleghany News on May 10, after the county had declined to release the material earlier in the week.

Newspaper Editor Coby LaRue had originally asked for the documents about two weeks prior to the commissioners' April 7 meeting. Adams told the newspaper on May 7 that the documents would not be made available until they were approved by the county commission.

In a letter dated May 8 that was sent to the newspaper office just before noon Wednesday, Adams had declined to furnish the information, noting that the budget requests were not finalized.

In the final letter, which was dated May 10 and delivered with the preliminary budget packet, Adams said the materials were being released after "further conversation with the Board of Commissioners and the County Attorney."

Furthermore, the letter stated, "We still feel that we have done nothing wrong. As in years past, these documents were going to be made available to the public when the daily changes were completed."

Adams also said that the public still would have had ample time to review the documents, attend the budget hearings and public hearing before final action was taken.

"In order to avoid spending several thousand dollars defending a potential court action, we have decided to release these requested documents," Adams wrote.

In addition, Adams stressed that the budget information is "changing daily," noting that the changes include revising budget requests, correcting clerical errors and fixing other mistakes.

As for the preliminary budget requests, the 326-page stack of documents ranged in subject matter from official budget requests from the county's departments to information on cell phone plans and computer printers, information on meeting cancellations, tuition information from Wilkes Community College and other assorted materials.

The actual proposed requests from the departments detail the specific funding needs for each to be taken from the upcoming year's budget. Those requests are then processed by the manager, who holds meetings with elected officials and department heads, makes recommendations, checks over the material and delivers it to the board. The board then pores through the material in meetings and "workshops" and makes the final decisions, often revising requests to better fit revenue projections.

The county is most likely facing a tough budget year due to problems with state funding that is being put on hold by Gov. Mike Easley due to the state's own budget woes.

Revenue projections and other budget-related materials, including the manager's projections, will be available to the general public and the newspaper after May 21 - the date on which the commissioners are scheduled to review the proposed budget. That meeting will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the county office building on Main Street in Sparta and is open to the public.
 
 

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