Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 19, 1994 TAG: 9404190135
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Still for the sake of argument, let's also grant that the state can afford to spend the $40 million surplus left over from the 1992-94 budget to pay for the bulk of the first $58 million installment on the four-year rebate.
Finally, let's grant for the sake of argument that the capital-outlay items canceled to help pay for some of the remainder of the first installment either are unnecessary or can reasonably be deferred for a couple of more years.
There's still something wrong with this picture: The rest of the money is to come from reductions in appropriations for, you guessed it, arts and cultural programs - the only area of the budget that would see a cut in operating funds to help pay for the settlement.
True, the budget amendments George Allen is proposing won't likely be devastating for Roanoke.
He is not calling for wholesale elimination of funds for such Roanoke-based programs as the Explore Park, Center in the Square, the Science Museum of Western Virginia, the Arts Museum of Western Virginia, Mill Mountain Zoo and the Virginia Transportation Museum. Instead, he wants to reduce legislature-approved appropriations for these programs by about 6 percent.
Under the governor's budget amendments, state money also would be decreased, but not completely wiped out, for the Virginia Commission for the Arts, which makes grants to groups such as the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and Mill Mountain Theater. Ditto for grants programs that help support Roanoke-based public television and radio stations.
So it could be worse.
On the other hand, requested appropriations for most of these programs already were trimmed back by the 1994 General Assembly. Another 6 percent cut is not insignificant. It will mean, for instance, $25,000 less for Explore Park this year, nearly $54,000 less for the Science Museum - a six-figure loss for the area if 6 percent is cut from all the above-mentioned programs.
Especially troubling is the predictability of the thinking.
When spending cutbacks are necessary, government leaders tend to put communities' arts and culture organizations at the top of their hit list. Funding for such organizations is deemed dispensable, the organizations and their programs generally regarded as frills - and often frills only for the elite.
This mind set refuses to recognize that arts programs are major community resources for the education of citizens, young and old, rich and poor, and in between. Neither does it recognize the growing role that arts and cultural assets play in communities' efforts to attract new businesses, industries and tourists, and to secure the economic base upon which both local and state governments rely.
Appropriations for such facilities shouldn't be cavalierly regarded as easy come, easy go. It is an issue not simply of the proper level of state support for the arts but also of the stability of that support.
Lawmakers return Wednesday for a special session to consider, among other things, Allen's proposed settlement package and budget amendments. As lawmakers decide what's right and reasonable treatment for federal retirees, they should also keep in mind right and reasonable treatment of the arts in Virginia.
by CNB