Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 29, 1992 TAG: 9201290199
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
$1.2 BILLION BOND PLAN INTRODUCED
House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, pushing an ambitious $1.15 billion bond package to boost state road and building construction, acknowledged Tuesday that he is counting on its voter referendum provision and wide range of projects to attract bipartisan support.At a news conference, Cranwell said he already has some Republican backing for the package, which depends on a half-cent increase in the state sales tax to 5 percent, to repay the bond debt and to help alleviate disparities between rural and urban school districts.
Some skeptical Republicans have called the package "a Christmas tree," because it is laden with projects designed to appeal to voters across the commonwealth.
In addition to financing new prisons, parks, mental health facilities and college buildings, about half the bond money, $500 million, would go toward highway projects in virtually every part of the state. The tax would generate $214 million in its first year and would grow to $306 million by 1998. Each year, $100 million would go for payments on the 20-year bonds and the balance would be directed to poor rural and inner-city school districts that have complained about insufficient state aid.
Cranwell, a Vinton Democrat, said full details of the projects covered in the package have not been worked out. He promised that $45 million will be earmarked for the initial construction of a new connector road linking Roanoke and Blacksburg.
Another $20 million would be provided for initial design and planning of a third Hampton Roads bridge-tunnel at Interstate 64 in Norfolk, he said.
Del. Arthur Giesen, R-Augusta, one of several Republicans backing the plan, said its provision for a June 9 referendum relieves the pangs some Republicans may have about breaking their election-time promise to not raise taxes.
"This is the best method I've seen this session to both solve the economic situation of putting people back to work, addressing capital needs that have been put on hold for the past three years and addressing the disparity problem in our schools," Giesen said. "The task will be to show [legislators and voters] the critical-ness of this."
Cranwell calls his package the Economic Recovery Act of 1992, and says it would help "jump-start the Virginia economy" by creating jobs. Del. Leslie Byrne, D-Falls Church, said state road builders estimate that $500 million in transportation projects would create 20,000 to 40,000 new jobs.
While Cranwell was surrounded at Tuesday's news conference by 18 other senators and delegates and a host of construction-related businessmen, he acknowledged that he doesn't have the backing of the Wilder administration.
Gov. Douglas Wilder has submitted his own $535 million bond initiative. The governor's plan, however, does not include money for transportation projects or to address school disparity; it also does not require a tax raise.
In a prepared statement, Wilder expressed concerns about Cranwell's package because of its tax provisions, but did not rule out support.
"As I have stated before, the sales tax is the most regressive of all general taxes - the hardest hit are those who can least afford to pay it," Wilder said.
An overwhelming majority of the 40 senators have co-sponsored Wilder's package, which has been introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hunter Andrews of Hampton. A House version has been introduced by Del. Robert Ball, D-Henrico, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
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