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WENTWORTH — Including a 1-cent property tax increase in the 2009-10 budget is a short-term fix to a recession that is likely to linger for a few years, Eden resident Keith Mabe told the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners on Monday night.

“This 1 cent that you’re proposing for tax increases, certainly, is a patch,” Mabe said during a hearing on the county budget.

Many residents who showed up for the hearing in the Rockingham County High School auditorium criticized the commissioners about their spending and urged them to cut back.

County Manager Tom Robinson has recommended the 1-cent increase in his

$78.9 million budget to help close the gap, which he said was about $1.4 million.

Robinson told the commissioners last week that if they failed to include a tax increase, they should be prepared to cut 15 positions from various departments, including the library system, sheriff’s office and planning and inspections. Most of those positions are filled, Robinson said.

Robinson has also said that cutting employees would mean cutting back on services that more residents are using because of the recession.

But Eden lawyer Thomas Harrington, a critic of the commissioners, said most residents are prepared to sacrifice services.

“There’s not a soul in this room who’s not going to forgo some services before this is over,” Harrington said.

Robinson also has recommended furloughs, no pay raises, suspension of the 401(k) plan and cuts to the Rockingham County Schools and other departments to help balance the budget.

Two principals and a teacher spoke on behalf of a group of Rockingham County educators who asked the commissioners to restore the schools’ funding to its current level. The school system asked for $17.3 million; Robinson is recommending they receive $16.9 million.

Cindy Corcoran, principal of Leaksville-Spray Elementary School in Eden, said some of her students look to the schools for such basic educational tools as supplies. “Almost 80 percent of our students are considered economically disadvantaged students,” she said.

The teachers cited the strides the schools had made in areas such as technology and on state mandated tests as reasons the commissioners should return their funding.

But Stoneville resident Janette Good urged the county to cut some of its perks. She said the schools need to be teaching students individualism and how to work with what they have. “You don’t need a room full of technology to teach somebody what two and two is,” she said.

Residents also asked the commissioners to be more transparent in their business dealings.

“We want to be able to communicate with you all, and we want you to communicate with us,” Harrington said.

The commissioners are likely to vote on a budget during a 9 a.m. meeting Wednesday at the Rockingham County Governmental Center.

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com