HARVEY WANTS SALES TAX INCREASE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 5, 1993                   TAG: 9301050276
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
HARVEY WANTS SALES TAX INCREASE
Roanoke City Councilman James Harvey had a proposal Monday for the city's representatives in the General Assembly.
If the legislature would give City Council the authority to levy an additional half-cent local-option sales tax, he said, council could impose the tax and raise needed revenues.
That would ease the city's financial crunch and its urgent need for more state money, Harvey said.
City officials estimate the additional tax would generate $6.3 million a year for the city. The state sales tax is now 4 1/2 cents on each $1. If Roanoke's request were approved, the tax would be 5 cents.
Harvey said there would be no political risk for the legislators because council would decide whether the local-option tax would be imposed.
"It would be easy for you all just to approve it on a local-option basis," he said. "And then we would have to take the political heat for approving it."
But Harvey had no takers.
None of the city's representatives responded directly to his proposal, which is included in the city's wish list for the legislature's upcoming session.
For several years, the Virginia Municipal League has tried to persuade the legislature to give localities the right to impose an additional one-half cent local tax. But the legislators have repeatedly refused the request.
Roanoke's legislators indicated that money will be short this year and many requests will have to be denied.
"We are looking at limited funds," said state Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County.
Delegate Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke, said he understands the financial pressures on the city and vowed to try to get more school funds.
Delegate Clifton Woodrum, D-Roanoke, said changes are needed in the state formula for distributing school funds to localities.
City officials want the legislature to change the formula to provide more money for school systems such as Roanoke's with large numbers of children with special needs.
They say that educational funding disparity has gone on too long in Virginia. Both urban and rural school systems claim the funding formula is inequitable.
The city also wants the legislature to change the method for calculating the costs for the standards of quality for schools and to fully fund the state's share of them.
On other issues, council wants the legislature to:

Enact legislation to keep handguns out of the hands of juveniles and provide state funds for security personnel and equipment for schools.

Provide state funding for the proposed new highway link between Roanoke and Virginia Tech-Blacksburg. The federal government has allocated $6 million for the "smart road" project.

Provide $110,000 a year for the operation of the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

Lift the moratorium on state reimbursement to localities for half the cost of constructing or expanding a juvenile detention home. State law requires the state to reimburse localities for 50 percent of the cost, but the legislature has imposed a moratorium on the requirement. Roanoke needs to expand its juvenile detention home at a cost of $3 million.

Enact legislation that would treat violations of the city curfew like traffic violations. Fines and revocation of drivers' licenses would be a deterrent to curfew violations, Dibling said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB