Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 27, 1993 TAG: 9303270117
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, and Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, are trying to persuade Congress to add Montgomery, Roanoke and Rockbridge counties and the cities of Radford, Roanoke and Salem to the ARC's service area.
Virginia counties already in the commission shouldn't worry that the latecomers, with their relatively large populations, will grab away federal aid meant for them.
For one thing, there may be more money to go around in the years ahead. For another, being a member of the ARC doesn't necessarily mean a locality will get commission dollars.
President Lyndon Johnson signed the law that created the commission in 1965. The commission, a cooperative development effort among the federal, state and local governments, covers 399 counties in 13 states from Mississippi to New York.
Through September 1991, the commission funneled $272.5 million into Virginia's Appalachian counties and cities. That money, matched by other state, federal and local funds, made possible highway and economic and community development projects totaling more than half a billion dollars.
The Virginia localities now seeking to gain entry had the chance to join when the commission was formed but chose not to, fearing the stigma of being associated with a depressed region.
But because the counties and cities were originally proposed as part of the commission, Boucher believes they have a good chance of getting in now.
A bill to accomplish that has already been dropped into the legislative pot but probably won't be acted on until summer.
Boucher and former 6th District Rep. Jim Olin, D-Roanoke, introduced similar legislation last year but Congress adjourned before acting on it.
Gov. Douglas Wilder, who sits with other Appalachian-state governors on the commission board, endorsed last year's effort. There's been no indication he has changed that position, said Neal Barber, director of the state Department of Housing and Community Development. Barber is Wilder's alternate on the board.
The time may be right to increase Virginia's ARC boundaries because Congress is scheduled to consider a bill reauthorizing the commission. Such a bill was impossible during the past 12 years because Presidents Reagan and Bush wanted to do away with the agency, Boucher said.
Reagan never included the commission in his budgets. Only action by Congress kept it alive.
Bush was only a little more enthusiastic. He proposed a $50 million budget for the ARC, but Congress always went beyond that.
The current year's budget for the commission is $190 million. Virginia's share is roughly $4.5 million, of which two-thirds is allocated to highway construction.
That President Clinton has proposed funding the commission next year at near the current year's level is a good indication that funding for the agency will go even higher, Barber said.
If the Virginia localities join the commission and funding doesn't increase, there would be less money to go around. Barber said it is "very remote" that adding Roanoke and the other localities would increase Virginia's share of the money under the formula.
However, even if the pie grows, every locality would not necessarily get a slice.
Based on recommendations from local planning district commissions, officials in Barber's department decide what projects in Virginia should get commission support. Those proposals are sent to Washington, where the full ARC board has the final say on where the money goes.
There are no "hard and fast" rules about how states should allocate money to localities, said Ann Anderson, a commission spokeswoman. "They have to weigh the many needs."
Over the years the largest chunk of Virginia's money not going to highways has gone to community development with educational projects coming in a strong second.
Localities from Lee County on the Kentucky border to Highland County in the Alleghany Highlands have benefitted from funding, as have projects such as the Lonesome Pine Hospital in Big Stone Gap and the Bath County High School vocational wing in Hot Springs.
by CNB