Strong fiscal management by the Board of Supervisors has placed Rockingham County in a strong financial position. However, continued cost-shifting by the state and federal governments, coupled with increased demand for services, has created a fiscal reality: revenue must increase at a faster rate than expenses.
To continue to serve the citizens of Rockingham and remain in a strong financial position, the Board of Supervisors has adopted Rockingham 2020—A Financial Plan for the Future. This plan serves the community by establishing priorities, giving direction to County operations, and removing surprises from the budget process.
Rockingham 2020 consists of a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and an Operations Plan. A CIP is a five-year plan to guide the construction or acquisition of capital projects which serve to maintain the County’s infrastructure. It identifies needed capital projects, estimates their costs, ranks them by priority, lists the year each should be started and determines the best method of paying for them within the County's fiscal capabilities. An adopted CIP does not bind the local governing body (Board of Supervisors) to carry out any of the proposed projects, nor does it appropriate or require the expenditure of money. A CIP is a form of short-term planning based on the Comprehensive Plan and limited to a five-year planning period. Every year the CIP should be updated and extended one more year into the future so it will remain a five-year program.
The Operations Plan provides a guide for the annual funding of operations. The Operations Plan complements the CIP by identifying the costs necessary to sustain the current level of service and anticipating future increases in demand.