Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 26, 1995 TAG: 9501260084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Her husband was paying child support to two children from his first marriage but was nearly broke after doing so, Leonard had told legislators. Couldn't the guidelines account for such economic hardship, she wanted to know?
Since fall, Leonard, of Christiansburg, has received phone calls and letters from legislators or their aides, acknowledging her concerns.
Monday, she received letters from three state delegates. Enclosed were copies of a bill to amend the guidelines. It was a carry-over bill passed 92-7 in the House of Delegates in 1994, passed 34-3 in the Senate two weeks ago, and now awaiting the governor's signature.
Leonard said she scanned the bill, searching for changes. She found that the level of child support obligation for those earning more than $10,000 a month had been reduced.
But there was no change for those earning less than $10,000 a month. For example, the one-child support obligation for a gross monthly income of $1,100 - or $13,200 a year - would remain at 19.1 percent.
By comparison, the obligation for someone with 10 times that monthly income would drop from 19.2 percent to 12.3 percent.
``It's typical government,'' Leonard said. ``It's the rich helping the rich. Isn't that the way it works most of the time?''
Del. Leo Wardrup, R-Virginia Beach, who sponsored the bill, said its intent was to correct an error made two years ago when legislators added income calculations for parents whose gross monthly incomes are more than $10,000.
``There were those who didn't understand the intent, those who thought we were messing around with those guidelines,'' Wardrup said this week. ``There were those who felt this was a ploy to the rich. That is absolutely not true.''
When the guidelines were written in 1988, gross monthly income levels - the combined income of both parents - stopped at $10,000. Child support for parents above that income level was left at judges' discretion.
Three years ago, the federal government encouraged states to extend their guidelines to deal with higher incomes. Virginia was among several states that added higher income calculations to the guidelines.
But the calculations were flawed, Wardrup said. They stipulated, for example, that a gross monthly income between $10,000 and $20,000 had a child support obligation, for one child, of anywhere from 15.1 to 20.1 percent. The obligation for someone making exactly $10,000 a month was 10.1 percent.
The way the guidelines are supposed to work is, as income rises, so does the dollar amount paid - even though the percentage of income decreases, Wardrup said.
But the calculations that were added for high incomes skewed that ``natural curve,'' he said.
``The rates for those high income levels were higher than I think the draftsmen intended,'' said Mike Henry, director of the Virginia Division of Child Support Enforcement. ``You make more money, the percentage tends to decline. But the existing law created a notch at $10,000 where the [proportional] rate went back up where it should have started to decline. This bill was designed to fix that problem.''
Wardrup said he had been approached by a Virginia Beach physician and her former husband about flaws in the calculations. Their combined incomes put them in a guideline category that had them paying ``absolutely ridiculous amounts,'' he said. ``It's obvious that that was not the intent of the legislature.''
That is of little consolation to Tammy Leonard. Though the family's financial condition has improved since Leonard returned to work, making it easier for her husband to pay child support without financially burdening the family, ``I just don't understand,'' she said.
Legislators ``were telling me the guidelines were going to be reduced,'' she said. ``But everyone failed to mention they would only be reduced for people making more than $10,000 a month. They had an opportunity to help a lot of people and chose to help a very select few.''
Mike Henry said the state Division of Child Support Enforcement - which has a caseload of 355,000 families owed child support, half of whom still cannot collect - took no position on Wardrup's bill. Henry said he knew of no cases being handled by the division that involved parents with monthly incomes of more than $10,000.
``They tend not to make their way into the public caseload,'' he said.
A committee has been appointed to review the child support guidelines for monthly incomes of $10,000 and less. Those who would like their concerns addressed can write to: Dr. Elizabeth Ruppert, Chairman, Child Support Advisory Committee, 730 E. Broad St., Richmond 23219
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
by CNB