Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 12, 1992 TAG: 9203120448
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY L. GARLAND
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
While there was never any doubt that legislators would approve a general-obligation bond issue - and it should have been on the ballot last November so projects could be getting under way - a bouquet, nonetheless, for settling on the reasonable and digestible sum of $613 million. There should be no problem in gaining voter approval in November.
It would have been nice to have these projects at state colleges and other agencies going to bid now, when contractors are hungry if not desperate and interest rates are relatively low. But there's scant reason for believing that contractors capable of major undertakings will be any less hungry at year's end. While interest rates may not fall significantly between now and then, there's also little reason for believing that the state will have to pay much more than the average yield of about 6.25 percent that could be obtained now in the tax-exempt bond market.
But a brickbat for those who placed a second issue on the same ballot for $435 million in road bonds tied to raising the state's gasoline tax from 17.5 cents a gallon to 19.5 cents. While voter approval might be anticipated - and the tax increase would add only about $10 a year to the average motorist's costs - the fact remains that the Virginia Department of Transportation hasn't been able to launch as many projects as existing revenues will support.
The five tax increases enacted for transportation in 1986 were supposed to take us past the year 2000, and Gov. Douglas Wilder said the other day that - counting new funds arriving under the recent federal highway bill - Virginia would have $8 billion to spend on transportation over the next five years.
Wilder took $112 million from the VDOT to help balance the 1990-92 budget. But the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that even with this substantial subtraction, the highway department has a $463 million unexpended balance on which contracts are yet to be let.
On that subject, let's award a belated double brickbat to Wilder and House Speaker Tom Moss for their work last year encouraging qualified state workers to retire as early as age 50 with sweetened retirement benefits. While it was supposed to save $37 million in the 1990-92 budget, a state official recently said that it would fall short of that savings by about $10 million. But whatever is saved on the operating side of the state's budget will be offset many times over by increased burdens on the Virginia Retirement System, now financed almost entirely by taxpayer contributions.
One reason the highway department may be having problems is that the Wilder-Moss gambit caused 960 of its most experienced employees to leave the department last year between July 1 and Sept. 30.
While the department has always farmed out some work, it may be doing more of that now. As of Jan. 1, it had 280 consulting engineering firms under contract for approximately $256 million in services.
There's no way for me to say which part of that represents costs that could have been avoided if 960 senior employees had not suddenly decamped, or whether the job can be done better and cheaper by going outside. But VDOT's chief engineer recently stated that the agency is at a point where it must balance its personnel needs with the necessity of employing outside consulting firms to fill the gaps.
A bouquet to the assembly for approving off-track betting parlors linked by television to real races in the same locality. Racing promoters say this is the only way in which a track can be profitable in Virginia, and it makes sense to believe them. After all, it has been more than three years since Virginia voters approved pari-mutuel betting by a substantial majority, and no track has thus far materialized or even come close.
On the subject of gambling, a bouquet to the state Senate for having the good sense to insist that the Virginia lottery be allowed funds to advertise its dubious wares. Not content with having developed a junkie's habit of depending upon the "voluntary tax" to fill holes in the state's operating budget, the House wanted to strangle the goose that has laid the golden egg. Delegates actually adopted a budget amendment reducing the lottery's ad budget to the proverbial brass farthing, but the Senate insisted on allowing the advertising money.
This isn't unimportant because the lottery succeeds or fails as an extension of the entertainment business and has many competitors for the consumer's limited discretionary income.
A brickbat to legislators for failing to enact a uniform cigarette tax, with proceeds divided between the state and localities. Instead, we got more piecemealing.
Fairfax and Arlington counties, which had been the only counties authorized to levy a cigarette tax, will be able to raise their local tax from 5 cents a pack to 15 cents; Prince William and Loudoun counties will be able to join them in taxing cigarettes at 15 cents a pack. Roanoke County, meanwhile, received authority to levy a tax of 10 cents a pack. All other counties are still out in the cold.
While many taxes were either raised, or almost raised, and legislators sanctioned new borrowings of $1.27 billion, a brickbat goes to those who gave the state's most affluent senior citizens an additional tax break. It's worth as much as $650 a year for a married couple drawing separate, maximum Social Security benefits. Details later.
Ray L. Garland is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.
by CNB