Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 19, 1993 TAG: 9301190261
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
HEARINGS OVER, CONSENSUS IS: MONEY NEEDED
Through five cities and grinding hours of testimony, the pleas have been the same: Money is crucial to keep public libraries open, extension services running, mental health and jobs programs operating and to raise critically low salaries of public health nurses and schoolteachers across Virginia."I've never seen such response in all my time down here," said veteran state Sen. Stanley Walker, D-Norfolk, during Monday's last of five public hearings on the state's 1993-94 budget.
In all, about 430 people addressed members of the House and Senate money committees to tell their stories and ask for more money. More than twice that number attended the events. On Monday alone, 100 people signed up to get a last request in.
"I'm David Sayers and I'm 9 years old, and I'm here for the libraries, and I don't know what else to say," said one young speaker who grabbed attention and empathy lawmakers with his brief pitch.
The audience, packed into a committee meeting room, cooed.
"Well, you'll get more money than all of these people," Del. Robert Ball, D-Richmond, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, assured Sayers.
The youngster grinned.
The more than 300 public libraries around the state will see a 50 percent cut in state aid under Gov. Douglas Wilder's proposed amendments to the budget. With state aid dropping from $10.1 million to $5.2 million between 1992-93 and 1993-94, Virginia's libraries potentially will lose more than $2 million in federal aid, lawmakers were told.
Likewise, more than 60 agents in the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service may lose their jobs if $3.2 million isn't restored to the service's budget.
Mental health advocates told lawmakers that $29.8 million is needed for housing, case management and support services for the mentally ill and retarded and for drug and alcohol rehabilitation services. Wilder's plan provided none of it.
Additionally, salaries of public heath nurses lag behind those of their counterparts in the private sector as well as behind those of other state-paid nurses, lawmakers were told, while public schoolteachers in Virginia are paid more than $2,700 less than the national average and more than $5,300 less than their colleagues in Maryland.
"Salary is a reflection of worth and respect in this society," said Rob James, president of the Virginia Education Association.
How lawmakers will handle the requests is unclear as they turn their attentions to divvying up more than $100 million in unexpected revenue for 1993-94. The total is less than 1 percent of the budget.
"What money is out there is pretty well utilized," Walker said. "I've never seen a time when the budget amendments have divided things so closely that there's little room left for other things. But people all seem to recognize what shape the economy's in when they've come in with these requests."
"You can't be too optimistic because of these constraints in the budget," Sen. Benjamin Lambert, D-Richmond, said as the public pleas continued. "But you never know what might happen. We could have a windfall somewhere and everybody will be happy."
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 1993