Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 6, 1995 TAG: 9501060087
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
But they're of the same mind when it comes to Virginia Tech's cooperative extension service, which they say should be spared from deep cuts.
The three Republicans admire Gov. George Allen's fundamental challenge to state government spending, but pledge to do what they can to lessen the hits to certain programs.
The two Democrats are outraged by the severity of the proposed budget cuts to Tech, Radford University and social programs.
On the GOP side, state Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo of Fincastle, and Dels. Tommy Baker of Dublin and Morgan Griffith of Salem, see some adjustments to Allen's plan to find $400 million in cuts to simultaneously start prison building, launch his five-year, $2 billion tax-cut plan and pay the settlement with illegally taxed federal retirees.
Griffith said the Democratic-controlled assembly will have to accept at least $200 million in budget cuts - making almost every government program justify its existence - or face major gridlock with the Republican governor. "You have to respect him for what he's trying to do," Griffith said.
"You will see a jockeying within the line items," Trumbo said. "You're talking about a lot of sacred cows out there."
Two of the biggest, loudest government-spending bovines in the New River region are also its major employers and economic engines: Tech and Radford University.
Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, and Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg, predict Allen's plan will be stood on its head by the Democratic-controlled legislature, particularly the governor's tax-cut and borrowing-for-prison-building plan. Shuler said Democrats may push the prison funding into a huge, $500 million bond referendum to be on the ballot in the fall.
"If prisons must be built, fine, but I think [Allen] should have foregone the tax relief which is ... little more than going back to the trickle-down theory of the Reagan administration, which didn't work," Marye said.
"I only wish we had as much leadership for the educational and prevention issues we need to deal with as we had for the prisons," Shuler said. "Think how much we could do if we had a $2 billion educational program, for instance."
In interviews this week and last, the five men outlined their thoughts on the key issues to come before this year's short-session legislature.
Everyone said the budget and taxes will dominate. And all five men say they'll go to bat for the Virginia Cooperative Extension, which would lose hundreds of jobs statewide under the governor's budget. "Extension is 911 for farmers," Baker said. He, Griffith, Shuler and Trumbo would like to see a partial restoration of extension's budget. Marye, a farmer himself, is more adamant. "I think they do good work," he said. "I would like to see every nickel given back."
Likewise, Shuler, Baker, Marye and Trumbo said they will work to restore funding for Radford. And Shuler wants to see $2.9 million restored to Tech's agriculture programs. In Radford's case, it's $1.6 million lopped from basic operating funds, not counting the cut for the now-dropped global studies program.
"To me, that's one of the high priorities to get that back in," Trumbo said. "Radford University has the potential of providing services beyond the scope that it has in the past. It's important that we realize the integral role it could play in the western part of the state."
Allen's "really putting the squeeze on education and extension," Shuler said. "I don't understand. Education is what we should be about."
The local delegation also has concerns about Allen's cuts to social services. Trumbo points to the program that brings meals to elderly people. "Some of these programs are beneficial," he said. "The question that comes in is whether or not they should be state subsidized."
On the tax cut plan, Marye said he hasn't heard from anyone who favors it. Shuler calls the tax cuts a "joke" that won't fly. Even the Republican members of the delegation have reservations about one portion of the plan: Allen's call to eliminate the gross-receipts tax on businesses at the local level. That would cost Radford, Christiansburg, Blacksburg and other towns in the region huge chunks of their annual budgets. All five men wouldn't want that cut to cause a shifting of the burden locally to real estate taxes.
Griffith said he hadn't heard of an overall consensus on the issue, but believes the governor may be willing to compromise. Trumbo sees this issue as part of an ongoing, historic movement to shift power from the state to local governments. If towns, cities and counties get to make more decisions, they'll also need more taxing authority and relief from state mandates, he said.
Other key issues this session will include the proposal to spend state money for charter schools independent of local school boards, and the effort to reform the welfare system. Most of the members predict some type of welfare reform will pass.
But four of the five New River legislators have concerns about the charter school program. Shuler, in particular, outright opposes the idea to allow private groups to obtain a charter and money from the state to operate innovative educational programs. He considers it a "back door effort for the second step, which would be vouchers for private schools."
Griffith, though, said he could support charter schools if it required that teachers in them hold valid state certificates.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
by CNB