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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 5, 1994                   TAG: 9401050139
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Short

MANY ASK; FEW HAVE ANSWER

Finally, Andrews, D-Hampton, broke the rule he laid down when the hearing started: that speakers would not be asked questions.

"Do you have any suggestions where we can find the money?" he wanted to know. Most speakers didn't. But Deborah McLeod did.

"Yes, I do believe we should raise taxes - I think, a bad-citizen tax," McLeod said after making her pitch for greater arts funding.

The tax, she said, would be paid by people already facing fines or other assessments for such infractions as littering.

"That's a novel approach," said Andrews, whose committee met jointly with the House Appropriations Committee for the third in a series of five public hearings on Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's proposed $32 billion budget for fiscal 1994-96.

The budget includes spending reductions intended to cope with an anticipated $350 million revenue shortfall. Among the hardest-hit areas would be state colleges and universities and mental health programs.

Other speakers asked for additional spending on public libraries, school health services, programs for the aging and various other needs. A few said taxes should be raised if necessary.

A fourth public hearing is to be conducted today in Lynchburg. The final hearing will be Jan. 17 in Richmond, two days after Gov.-elect George Allen takes office.

Allen is expected to make changes in Wilder's proposals.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994