It's been a busy week for the county government.

First off, the county opened its alternative fuel station on Scottsville Road, complete with hydrogen fueling station. That's important because the county is part of a General Motors program testing a hydrogen-powered vehicle design. County legislators, meanwhile, are considering a referral that would grant towns, villages, and the city access to the station, too.

Human Services Commissioner Kelly Reed told a committee of legislators that 931 children will lose daycare subsidies as a result of state funding cuts and the county's subsequent move to toughen eligibility levels. The consensus that emerged from the meeting is that the community needs to band together to lobby the state for more child care funds.

The county's second quarter budget report, which was released this week, estimated that the county could end the year somewhere between an $8 million deficit and a $300,000 surplus.

Scott Adair, the county's new finance director, updated the Legislature's bipartisan budget workgroup on this year's budget. The county's new system of paying Medicaid - the sales tax intercept- could save the county $300,000 this year, he said. That's based on the most recent sales tax numbers and is better than the $900,000 he previously predicted that the intercept could cost the county. But sales-tax revenues are fluid, he warned.

"We could look at it at the end of August and come back with a different number," he said.

Democratic legislators said they still think it will cost the county in the long run.

Adair also told the legislators that the county is near a sales tax settlement with suburban school districts. He figures that the agreements will start to filter out to school boards within two weeks. �