Shenandoah County has to close a a $2 million budget shortfall in fiscal 2010-11, and County Sheriff Tim Carter is bracing for cuts to his department that could total $564,000. “We're going to do the best that we can,” Carter said Wednesday afternoon. “But a reduction of this magnitude is a significant reduction to a department that does not have a bloated budget…There is going to be an impact.”

The fire department is also being asked to make do with less -- about $90,000 less than it had requested.

Reductions in public safety budgets can have a negative impact on home values if services are affected.

Read more at the Daily News-Record....