ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 23, 1996 TAG: 9601230072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Members of a General Assembly budget-writing committee scolded an administration official Monday for proposing to pay for college building projects by selling surplus state property.
Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee said Republican Gov. George Allen submitted a deficit budget, because there is no guarantee enough property can be sold to pay for the $72.5 million in projects.
They turned up the heat when Secretary of Administration Michael E. Thomas produced a list of surplus property valued at only $36 million.
``I'm just appalled at not being given a list of $72 million worth of property,'' said Del. Whitt Clement, D-Danville.
Del. Franklin Hall, D-Richmond, pressed Thomas and Allen budget director Robert Lauterberg for a more complete list but was told none was available.
``Work continues to identify the surplus property,'' Lauterberg said. ``I think we're on track. We've identified half'' of the amount needed to cover all the projects.
Thomas said that, under Allen's proposal, the projects would be built only if enough money is raised through surplus property sales. If only $36 million is raised, only $36 million worth of projects would be built, he said.
``The budget is not bound by this,'' Lauterberg said. ``If the money is not found, there is no hole in the budget.''
But committee members insisted that if Allen puts projects in the budget, he also should include a solid source of funding to pay for them.
Del. Earl Dickinson, D-Louisa County and chairman of the committee, noted that Allen's proposed $34.6 billion two-year budget already appears to be short by $67 million because of the likely demise of two proposed lottery games that have drawn stiff opposition from lawmakers.
``Now we're seeing another $40 million difference,'' he said. ``That's not the way we should be doing business.''
Hall said in an interview that he would have preferred that the administration leave the 19 construction projects out of this budget and fund them later, after money from the property sales is in hand.
``If they would just tell us, `This is all we can come up with,' we can handle that,'' Hall said.
Thomas said Allen considered the projects worthwhile, but couldn't fund them with other revenue. Tying the projects to surplus property sales was a way of moving now, ``before the costs go up,'' he said.
Allen's total budget for college building projects, including those funded by surplus property sales, is about $554 million.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB