tax increase of about 1.5 mills is expected to

hit Fayette property owners as a result of

passage of a new county budget last week.

County

commissioners trimmed the total budget from $57.5

million to $56.6 million before unanimously

approving it, but about $4 million in debt

payments on the planned jail/courthouse

construction project will require a tax increase,

said county finance director Emory McHugh.

Meanwhile,

Fayette government workers won't get $179,774 in

proposed salary hikes to bring their pay more in

line with that of workers in nearby counties.

And

they won't receive a retroactive $220,510 cost of

living adjustment.

The

cuts are part of $637,768 in changes the County

Commission made to the proposed budget for fiscal

2001, which starts July 1, before approving the

spending plan last week.

Workers

will receive an across-the-board 2.7 percent cost

of living adjustment, plus merit pay hikes that

range from zero to 5 percent.

Commissioners

also decided not to make payments to its worker

compensation insurance plan this year, taking

$459,048 from surpluses in the county's

self-insurance fund to cover claims.

During

a series of work sessions, commissioners also

trimmed $85,501 by cutting two investigator

positions from the Sheriff's Department requests,

$91,283 by axing juvenile probation officers, and

$700 by reducing a proposed increase in the

stipends of county Board of Elections members.

The

county also will save $60,000 in debt service on

the jail/courthouse complex, as bonds were sold

at a slightly lower interest rate than originally

estimated.

On

the revenue side, the county also expects to fund

some of the debt service for the jail and for

construction of four planned fire stations using

impact fees, but state approval of the county's

impact fee plan is not expected to come in time

to use those figures to calculate property taxes

for 2001.

"It

may come through in time, but probably

won't," said commission Chairman Harold

Bost.

<!--

-----------