Chesterfield County residents looking to sound off on the county's $1.3 billion proposed budget will have their chance at a public hearing Wednesday.

That will give the Board of Supervisors a week to digest the feedback before adopting a budget April 9. The plan is based on continuing the real property tax rate at 97 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Budget Director Allan Carmody said reductions in state funding likely will require a $1.5 million cut in the county's proposed $759.6 million general operating fund used to compensate county employees and pay for schools and other programs. But until April 9, he said, he would not venture a guess on where funding could be cut.

"We're maintaining all the essential government services," Carmody said. "People do not need to fear that they're going to lose the services that brought them here."

While the $1.3 billion figure marks almost an 11 percent increase from the current budget, the general fund would increase 3.6 percent -- or even less factoring in the shortfall from the state. In the past three fiscal years the increase has averaged about 10 percent.

Of the $126.6 million increase in the total budget, Carmody attributes almost half that to an increase in the capital-improvements program driven by scheduled wastewater-treatment plant upgrades.

The county police department has asked for 15 more officers than the four new positions included in the proposed budget. Police Chief Thierry Dupuis wants an additional $2.5 million to pay for the force expansion and salary increases to combat retention problems.

The budget proposes 26 new positions for the county for fiscal year 2009, compared with an average of 90 over the past three years. It would, however, restore a 3 percent cutback in departments' spending during fiscal year 2008 because of bleak revenue projections.

Schools would get $646.7 million -- about half the total budget. The plan anticipates 900 new students.

For county employees, the plan proposes $8.9 million for performance-based salary increases, generally in the range of 3 percent to 4 percent.

The sole program eliminated this year would be county curbside waste pickup. About 2,500 households in the county pay for the service.

"We just felt the private sector could handle this more efficiently," Carmody said.

Free trash collection still would be available to participants in the county's tax relief for the elderly program, he added.

The 2009 fiscal year begins July 1 and runs through June 30, 2009.
Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or whester@timesdispatch.com.