RappahannockCounty budget hearing set for Monday

The Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors will hear citizens’ views Monday on a proposed $22 million county budget that would raise the tax rate on real estate by one cent per $100, or 1.7 percent.

The public hearing is set for 7 p.m. at the county court house in Washington, Va.

The proposed budget for fiscal 2009, which starts July 1 shows an increase of more than $1.7 million from the current year’s budget, up 8.5 percent.

The proposed hike is sharper than in the previous two years.

The larger increase is being driven mainly by an unusual number of large capital spending projects, including a new emergency communications system, the closing of the last cell at the Amissville landfill and the restoration of Scrabble School as a county senior center.