By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

Fayette County's proposed $57.5 million budget for fiscal 2001 anticipates a property tax increase of 1.5 mills, costing the owner of a $200,000 home about $106.50 more in taxes.

“That's as near as I can guess until we sell the bonds [for construction of a new jail and courthouse] and we see the tax digest,” said Emory McHugh, director of the county Finance Department.

County commissioners in coming weeks will schedule a series of meetings to dig into the proposed budget.

As proposed, the budget is up 7.6 percent from the FY2000 budget of $53.4 million.

Debt service on the judicial complex is projected at $4.25 million, McHugh said, accounting for all of the projected tax increase. “It's expensive keeping those prisoners in jail,” he said.

County officials soon will sell $60 million in bonds for the project, and hope to collect impact fees to pay about $1 million of the debt service. It will be at least three or four months before the fees will begin to roll in, though, officials estimate.

As always, public safety will absorb the lion's share of the $37 million general fund portion of the budget, at a proposed $13 million, up 6.5 percent from this year's $12.2 million, with public works coming in second at $7.8 million, a reduction of 11 percent from $8.8 million in FY2000.

Public works figures fluctuate a great deal, said McHugh, as uncompleted projects from one year are rolled over into the next year's budget.

The budget is available to the public at the County Administrative Complex, 140 Stonewall Ave., Fayetteville.