The Roanoke Times | File March

Last month, Montgomery County's budget was proposed at $158.9 million.

Montgomery County supervisors learned about changes to consider in the county's proposed 2009-10 budget during a work session Monday night.

When county officials put together the proposed $158.9 million budget last month, they had to make cuts and reallocations, which included dipping into the rainy day fund, but a big question mark remained: the amount of aid the county would receive from the federal stimulus package and when it would arrive.

Interim County Administrator Carol Edmonds gave a presentation to the board Monday, which cleared up some of those questions, while explaining changes in available dollars and how they will be used.

Some of the changes, Edmonds said, include an allocation from the state compensation board, the amount of which was previously unknown. The change will restore about $297,000 to the budget, she said.

She also said lower worker's compensation rates freed up another $21,000. In all, those types of changes give the county an additional $309,149 in revenue, Edmonds said.

She proposed that the board give about $50,000 to the sheriff's office for vehicles, add a $10,000 contribution to the Fairview Home for capital needs and eliminate the use of the $249,000 of rainy day fund money.

Edmonds stressed the importance of not touching the rainy day fund for the upcoming budget.

"We don't need to be having one-time-only money in the budget, or at least as little as possible," she said.

Part of the $158.9 million budget included $3.2 million in federal stimulus dollars for the school board. This money will be available July 1 unless Gov. Tim Kaine chooses to veto it during the veto session today.

School staff are expected to present a plan for use of that money to the school board during its April 14 meeting, Edmonds said.

Supervisor Mary Biggs mentioned an additional allocation that she expressed interest in at the March 26 budget public hearing. At that hearing, Helen Butler, executive director of Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia, asked the board to consider giving the organization $1,000 as it did in the previous budget.

"I personally want to put it in there. ... I don't know how the rest of us feel but I feel real strongly about it," Biggs said.

The board plans to adopt a finalized budget at the April 27 meeting.