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

DATE: SATURDAY, July 8, 1995                   TAG: 9507100052
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

SENATE PANELISTS BEMOAN BUYOUT'S COST TO LOCALITIES

Senate Finance Committee members complained Friday that local governments were not told in advance that they would pay some of the costs of the Allen administration's state employee buyout program.

Donald Stern, acting state health commissioner, told the committee that the Workforce Transition Act requires localities to pay their ``fair share'' when health department workers take the buyout.

Although they are considered state employees, most local health department workers are paid with a combination of local and state funds. Some local officials were miffed when they learned they would be stuck with part of the employee buyout costs.

``Localities weren't consulted,'' said Sen. Hunter Andrews, chairman of the committee. For that reason, the Hampton Democrat said, the program amounts to the kind of ``unfunded mandate'' Gov. George Allen criticizes the federal government for imposing on the states.

``I don't think this was the intent of the legislation,'' Andrews said.

Sen. Joseph Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax County, also chided the administration for failing to consult localities, which Stern described as ``partners'' with the state in delivery of health services.

``You left your partners out in the cold,'' Gartlan said.

Stern said the attorney general's office determined that the wording of the Workforce Transition Act required the localities to pay a share. Gartlan said the attorney general's advice was sought only after localities began complaining.

``It was an effort to bail out an agency that made a bad decision,'' Gartlan said.

More than 500 health department workers applied for the buyout, and 387 were accepted, Stern said. Localities had to pay about $1.6 million of the $5.5 million in severance costs for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

In other business, Secretary of Finance Paul Timmreck told the committee that general fund tax collections for the just-ended fiscal year exceeded the official estimate by about $44 million. The state also took in $9.9 million more in lottery profits than anticipated, bringing total excess revenue to $53.9 million.

The law requires most of the money to go into the state's ``rainy day'' fund, which will grow to more than $145 million. About $4.1 million also will be shared by seven colleges. The amounts range from $87,562 for Richard Bland College to $1.8 million for the University of Virginia.

by CNB