Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 15, 1992 TAG: 9202170193
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BONNIE V. WINSTON
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
HOUSE OKS BOND VOTE
The House of Delegates agreed Friday to give voters a chance to borrow $1 billion for roads, higher education, mental health projects and parks and to tax themselves to retire the debt.The bond issue, to be repaid over 20 years from the proceeds of a half-cent increase in the sales tax, would be submitted to voters in a July 14 referendum if the Senate agrees.
That approval is considered doubtful, though. Senate leaders and Gov. Douglas Wilder prefer a more modest bond package that would not require a tax increase.
The House-passed plan - sponsored by Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton - also proposes to help alleviate the disparity in state aid to school districts by distributing about $150 million per year in increased sales tax proceeds that would be left over after the bond payments.
Friday's 63-35 House vote came after a sometimes contentious two-hour debate that often pitted Democrat against Democrat, and after a substitute offering by Republicans failed.
Cranwell had two major forces working against him - Republicans who contended that Virginians will not support a tax increase, and Democrats who were loyal to Wilder's bond plan.
Wilder's $535 million package, which must be acted on by the House and Senate by Thursday, is loaded with money for improvements to state colleges - but has no money for road projects or to help end school disparity.
At times Friday, it seemed Cranwell's most bruising critics were fellow party leaders - caucus Chairman Alson Smith, D-Winchester, and Robert Ball, D-Richmond, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Smith questioned the constitutionality and fiscal soundness of Cranwell's referendum provisions and renewed warnings that the package might jeopardize the state's AAA bond rating.
But Cranwell reminded lawmakers that Wilder's secretary of finance, Paul W. Timmreck, has said the package would not jeopardize the rating. And he said Attorney General Mary Sue Terry's office has concluded that the referendum question is constitutional.
Ball accused Cranwell's backers of "hiding behind the people" with the referendum provision instead of "having the guts" to vote the sales tax themselves.
But Cranwell shot back that constituents have called him to ask why the state can afford to put a shower in Ball's legislative office but can't provide more money for poor people and schools. Ball had the shower installed two years ago.
Del. John Watkins, R-Midlothian, offered a $688 million bond substitute that he called a "reasonable compromise" between Cranwell's and Wilder's plans. It included $311 million in road projects and lesser amounts for higher education, mental health and parks; with the debt to be repaid by deferring a series of scheduled tax credits and by dedicating money from the state transportation trust fund.
"We cannot tax our way out of the recession," Watkins argued. "If we go to the voters with a sales tax, we are going to hear a resounding 'no.' "
But Watkins' plan contained nothing to ease school disparity, and drew criticism from several rural lawmakers.
"We are fools if we go home and have a $700 million bond issue and give nothing for disparity," said Del. Ford C. Quillen, D-Gate City.
Watkins' package was defeated, 59-39.
Watkins and 12 other Republicans ultimately voted for Cranwell's plan, while seven Democrats opposed it. One of those, Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke, said the sales tax increase would hurt people who can least afford it.
"I don't think people are going to vote to give themselves another tax when they don't know whether their jobs are safe, or whether their pensions are safe," he said.
YEA OR NAY\ On Cranwell bond bill\ \ IN FAVOR: Dels. Ward Armstrong, D-Martinsville; Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton; Creigh Deeds, D-Warm Springs; Willard Finney, D-Rocky Mount; Thomas Jackson, D-Hillsville; G.C. Jennings, D-Marion; Joseph Johnson, D-Abingdon; Joan Munford, D-Blacksburg; Lacey Putney, I-Bedford; Roscoe Reynolds, D-Martinsville; Clifton Woodrum, D-Roanoke.\ \ OPPOSED: Dels. Steven Agee, R-Salem; Tommy Baker, R-Dublin; Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY