Chesterfield budget balanced, has a little extra to work with - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News

Chesterfield's budget team says there's a little extra money in the 2014 budget presented Monday night to the Board of Supervisors.

The budget being presented includes raises for school employees and additional funds for public safety leaders. Those putting it together call the budget responsible, cautious, and most importantly balanced.  

Sports will also take home a "win" in the county. County leaders say a lot of emphasis was put into sports tourism - and that has paid off. It's believed sports tourism is a huge revenue stream for the County.      

"Certainly, you're filling hotels on certain weekends because of these events," said Budget Director Allan Carmody. "Definitely a contributor to the hotel tax and shopping and eating meals."

The county hopes to use some of the extra money to advertise events in the area and keep the facilities in top-notch condition.

The budget is $736 million, about a 2% increase of $14 million in anticipated funding.  

Some of that money is proposed to go to fire stations for some long-standing needs. The police chief would be able to hire four new officers, putting more officers back out on the street. Those were resources cut when the recession hit, finally getting back in place.

"We're happy that we can recognize our employees who are making all of this happen over all of these years in some way," said Carmody. "They've carried a lot of water for this community in what they've done."

The county will close the school budget gap and school employees will get a 2% raise in the second half of the year, in addition to VRS contributions.

Since this is just the first pitch of the budget, it's expected some changes will be made before supervisors vote on any official capacity. The budget vote is set for early April.

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