March 26th, 2012 by WCBC Radio
As the city of Cumberland continues its budget process- it is somewhat hamstrung by potential negative impacts should city officials dip into the reserve fund as a resource. The Allegany County Board of Education- as an example- is planning on taking $5 million from its reserve fund to balance the budget for FY ’13. The city however, which underwent a major debt restructuring last year, must continue to work toward building a $10 million fund balance in order to maintain positive debt ratings. Council members have already informally agreed that they don’t want to raise the tax rate to make up for revenue lost due to a decline in property values. And they don’t want to dip into the city’s slowly growing fund balance. Councilman David Kauffman…
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