ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 25, 1997 TAG: 9701270053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
LAWMAKERS have submitted budget lists totaling in the billions for how to spend an estimated $250 million.
Del. Morgan Griffith is asking for $6,355 to spiff up Confederate graves in two Salem cemeteries.
Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo would settle for $2.5 million for an industrial park in Pulaski County.
Del. Allen Dudley wants $350,000 for a public park on the Franklin County side of Smith Mountain Lake.
Del. Jim Shuler wants to shower Virginia Tech with $25 million in new state aid.
Western Virginia lawmakers have plenty of suggestions for spending an estimated $250 million surplus in the state budget.
They also have plenty of company.
Lawmakers from around the state have submitted budget wish lists totaling more than $2.4 billion - nearly 10 times the amount available.
The budget amendments are a formality that often have little bearing on how the General Assembly money committees put together the state's spending plan. The budget pie is sliced through a combination of horse-trading, coalition politics and an individual lawmaker's raw legislative clout.
Still, most lawmakers go through the ritual of filing amendments.
Here are a few proposals advanced by Western Virginia legislators:
* $1.6 million to raze the old Martinsville General Hospital to make way for a new site for the Virginia Museum of Natural History (Sen. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Henry County).
* $250,000 for Virginia Military Institute for a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan (Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta County).
* $2 million for a new building for the Southwest Virginia Governor's School (Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville).
* $300,000 in additional funds for the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford (Del. Lacey Putney, I-Bedford).
* $800,000 for a campground in New River Valley Trail State Park (Del. Tommy Baker, R-Pulaski County).
* $75,000 for Roanoke County schools to develop reliable enrollment projections (Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton).
* $450,000 to dredge the lake at Douthat State Park (Del. Creigh Deeds, D-Warm Springs).
* $50,000 for Opera Roanoke (Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke).
General Assembly money committees will unveil a final proposal by midnight Feb. 18, four days before the legislature adjourns.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB