| Amy Matzke-Fawcett

amy.matzke-fawcett@roanoke.com, 381-1674

RADFORD -- After months of discussion, the city council voted 3-2 Monday night to appropriate nearly $20,000 to the city's constitutional offices to help offset budget cuts made at the state level.

Mayor Tom Starnes and Councilwoman Laurie Buchwald cast the two dissenting votes.

The cuts were made on the state level in September as part of a scramble to make up an anticipated $1.35 billion revenue shortfall for the current fiscal year. This is the fourth time in two years those offices have seen cuts from the state.

"I'm very happy," Commissioner of Revenue Cathy Flinchum said Tuesday. "I'm so glad that three of the council members have realized we need support."

Giving the funds is a departure from the council's usual stance that it is not responsible for subsidizing for the state's budget shortfalls.

"They've been cut and been cut and absorbed all those cuts ... but then you get to the point where it's affecting vital services to the city," Councilman Dick Harshberger said.

The money came from the council's discretionary fund, which now stands at a few hundred dollars, Harshberger said.

Buchwald, who also voted against the appropriations during the ordinance's first reading Nov. 9, said she again voted no because of the support she received from residents.

"Let me stress that these are difficult times and I take no joy in casting my vote the way I have," Buchwald wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. "But given that I continue to receive support for my vote on a daily basis, I feel confident that I have made the right decision."

Buchwald said earlier that she could not support giving the constitutional officers money while other offices -- including fire, police, library and social services -- were also facing cuts and dealing with them without city help.

Four of the constitutional officers -- Flinchum, Circuit Court Clerk Ann Howard, Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Rehak and Treasurer Janet Jones -- formed the Council Opposition Support Team last month and pledged to support the people who run against incumbents Buchwald, Starnes and Bruce Brown during the spring elections.

Brown has said he did not bow to the pressures of the group, but was disappointed it had come to a "confrontation" for council members, including himself, to understand what constitutional officers do for the city.

"That has absolutely nothing to do with this [COST] at all," Brown said. "I do my homework. I look at the situation and I look at the variables and I make my decision based on that."

Flinchum, too, said she thought the votes were unrelated to COST.

"I think council has finally decided Radford needed to move forward," she said.

In other action Monday, the council heard a report about the ongoing roof leaks at the Radford Recreation Center from general contractor Sam Lionberger.

HDH Architects is studying the roof, because the manufacturer, contractors and roofing subcontractors can't find a reason why the roof has leaked during heavy rains for the past seven years, Lionberger said. His company plans to put another coat of sealant on the exterior walls starting Monday to try to fix the problem, he said.

"This is not acceptable," Starnes said during the report. "I think if we don't get it corrected in a reasonable amount of time -- and this is just me speaking, I haven't spoken to other council members -- our only recourse will be legal action."