ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HILLSVILLE
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on January 9, 1996.
A proposed funding reduction to Virginia community action agencies
would not mean a 25 percent loss to the total New River Community Action
budget, as stated in an article Friday on a state budget public hearing
in Hillsville. It would mean a 25 percent loss in the agency's Community
Development Block Grant funding only.
State legislators heard calls at a budget hearing Thursday to restore funds slated to be cut from community action agencies.
Montgomery County Social Services Board Chairman Harry Scott, a Christiansburg priest, expressed support for Gov. George Allen's welfare restructuring program aimed at making recipients more independent. But he said the safety nets of agencies such as New River Community Action are needed while reforms are carried out.
"The two issues cannot be separated," Scott said. "Were it not for community action, our agency would not be able to operate as efficiently.''...
The General Assembly restored proposed cuts to community action agencies last year, and a dozen of the more than 100 people who signed up to address legislators on budget matters Thursday asked that they do it again.
Allen has proposed that $2.2 million, in the form of Community Development Block Grants, not be returned to the agencies this year.
Several speakers recounted that agencies such as New River Community Action and the Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program helped them go from being on welfare to holding jobs. "Community action is the bridge that welfare reform needs," one said.
Terry Smusz, executive director of New River Community Action, said it is inconsistent to cripple the agencies that can best help move people from dependency.
Smusz noted that although the $2.2 million cut in block grants has been estimated to be 5 percent of the budgets of community action agencies, it would represent a 25 percent loss of her agency's funding.
Legislators attending the budget session also heard pleas for pay and staff increases for the state's general district and circuit court offices, and for maintaining funding for the arts.
Montgomery County General District Court Clerk Polly Myers said that 10 employees in her office left last year after a short time because of job pressures, inability to take earned vacation because of workloads and low pay. Carroll County Circuit Court Clerk Carolyn Honeycutt spoke of similar stresses in her office.
Michael Dowell, executive director of the Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley, said Virginia ranks 55th out of 56 states and territories in funding for the arts.
State money generates 25 to 30 percent of the center's budget, Dowell said, and the center is already facing a 40 percent funding cut from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Supporters of arts funding argued that arts are important to education. "When arts become the core of the curriculum," said Marietta Carmichael of Galax, "achievement in every subject is greatly increased."
Susan Jennings, director of the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge based in Roanoke, said all agencies must tighten belts during tough financial times "but I really truly believe that the arts have done that." Kay Houck, director of the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, got the legislators' attention starting her appeal by blowing an imitation train whistle.
Carroll County School Superintendent Oliver McBride said his county will have to come up with $500,000 more for its schools to meet minimum state standards, because of how the composite index which determines state funding works out for next year. This comes at a time when many localities need to improve their aging school buildings, which would cost an estimated $50 million in Carroll alone.
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