ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 7, 1996 TAG: 9605070113
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Strip
The debate over whether the state should help pay for a major-league baseball stadium has touched a nerve: A lot of folks in Western Virginia don't much care for Northern Virginia. But one of their chief complaints is flat-out wrong.
Dennis Kitts is so mad he doesn't even want to talk about it - much. "I don't want to get my blood pressure up again," he jokes. Still, he can't hold back, not when the subject turns to whether Virginia should help foot the bill for a major-league baseball stadium in the Washington suburbs.
"Those people up in Northern Virginia have got about the same opinion of us as the people in Richmond," fumes the Radford arsenal worker from Christiansburg. "They think Virginia stops at Roanoke. They feel we're not part of the state. They feel that way until tax time, then we become part of the state again."
Mike Moose isn't much calmer. Northern Virginia "seems to think that it's the premier part of the state," says the Riner farm manager. As for the proposed baseball stadium, "I think it's a power game; I see it as arrogance on their part."
Raymond Barrosse doesn't have much use for the idea of building a stadium in Northern Virginia, either. "You remember the old Jerry Reed song?" asks the Roanoke clerical worker. "They've got the gold mine and we've got the shaft."
When Western Virginians talk about the issue that could dominate state government decision-making this summer - whether taxpayers should help build a baseball stadium to lure the Houston Astros or some other big-league team to Northern Virginia - it's not just dollars and cents, or even balls and strikes, that they're talking about.
Sometimes it's about how much they can't stand the most populous region of the state.
To be sure, the philosophical arguments about the proper use of state tax dollars do come up - pro and con.
Robert Turner, a Chevrolet salesman from Roanoke County, buys into the belief that pro sports is a way to boost a community's identity. "Virginia needs to have its own major-league sports team," he says. "This is something that will attract a lot of people; it's good for the economy."
Margaret Brown of Blacksburg falls into the camp that wonders why the state should be in the sports business. "I'm definitely opposed to helping pay to build a baseball stadium in Northern Virginia. I think our schools and hospitals and a lot of other things are needed before we mess around with entertainment."
But those are arguments that could just as easily be voiced in, say, Northern Virginia itself - and are.
What makes the public reaction in Western Virginia so noteworthy is the distinct strain of regional alienation - and antagonism - that runs through it. Consider what some who responded to The Roanoke Times' invitation to comment on the proposed baseball stadium had to say:
* Kitts: "Absolutely not do we need for the state to pay for a baseball stadium up in Northern Virginia. They have plenty there already. And it would just add another star in Northern Virginia's crown that the rest of us in the `end of the world part of Virginia' would have to pay for."
* Moose: "Why should other regions invest in a region of Virginia that is already vibrant economically? We're tired of Southwest Virginia being treated like a second-class citizen. When is this going to stop?"
* Barrosse: "My response to this is not just no, but hell no. When's the last time Northern Virginia did anything for Roanoke? And why should our taxes possibly be increased in order to help these wealthy people up in that part of the state that already have everything they could possibly want?"
There's just one problem with this argument that affluent Northern Virginia is freeloading at Western Virginia's expense.
It's not true.
In fact, it's the other way around - Northern Virginia is helping to subsidize Western Virginia.
"That's generally the case," says state Secretary of Finance Paul Timmreck.
How does he figure that? To be sure, it's difficult to pin down exactly how much a region gives the state government in taxes, and what it receives in return.
And how do you figure state spending? It wouldn't be fair to count Virginia Tech's budget as part of what the state spends on Southwest Virginia, Timmreck says, because a university is a statewide service. Likewise, Timmreck points out, Western Virginia might benefit from spending on state operations based elsewhere. A prison in Southside might help lock up some of our criminals to keep our streets safe.
Granted, Northern Virginia legislators have joined with their counterparts from other fast-growing regions to rewrite various state funding formulas - for highways, for instance - to direct more funds to urban areas, at the expense of rural localities. It's the age-old debate over whether highway funding should be weighted toward those places with more traffic or those with more miles of road.
Still, there are some figures that citizens in Western Virginia might want to ponder:
* Northern Virginia supplies a disproportionate amount of state revenue, based on its population, while Western Virginia comes up short.
According to the Department of Taxation, Northern Virginia accounts for 24 percent of the state's population, but supplies 32 percent of the state's sales taxes and 38 percent of state income taxes.
By contrast, Western Virginia - from Roanoke all the way to the Cumberland Gap - is home to 12 percent of the state's population, but supplies less than 11 percent of the sales taxes and only 8 percent of income taxes.
* Or take the ever-popular topic of school funding: The state picks up a bigger share of school funding here than it does in Northern Virginia.
Figures from 1994 (the most recent available) show that state funding accounts for about 20 percent of the school budget in Fairfax County - but about 42 percent of the school budget in Roanoke, and almost 80 percent of the school budget in Bland County.
It's true, there's disparity in school funding, but that's largely because suburban school systems in Northern Virginia can raise more local funds through property taxes than do the comparatively poor rural systems in Western Virginia.
* Finally, there is one, imperfect way to look at what the state spends in various parts of the state - by looking just at the funds returned to localities for schools, police, social services and other functions.
By that standard, Northern Virginia loses money while Western Virginia makes money off the state.
For instance, in 1994 Fairfax County residents paid more than $791 million in state income taxes (not to mention other taxes). But the state government returned only $225 million - total - to Fairfax County.
That same year, Roanoke residents paid more than $35 million in state income taxes - while the state returned almost $56 million to the city for various services.
Put another way, Fairfax County taxpayers were helping subsidize state services in Roanoke.
So why do some people believe just the opposite?
Folks here find themselves hard-pressed to identify a specific example of how, to use Barrosse's phrase, Northern Virginia has given Western Virginia "the shaft." Instead, there's just a general sense that this part of the state isn't getting its fair share.
"I can't quote chapter and verse," Barrosse says, "but if there's any state funding going around, Northern Virginia doesn't have any trouble getting their money. Then Gov. [George] Allen turns around and vetoes that money for the College of Health Sciences," a private health-care school in Roanoke that sought almost $1 million this winter.
Instead, the misperception appears to stem more from fears that Western Virginia is losing ground economically - while Northern Virginia has emerged as one of the wealthiest regions in the country.
Moose sees Western Virginia getting stuck with undesirable projects or low-wage industries, or both.
"Look at that medical incinerator project in Bland County, and the Kim-Stan landfill [in Alleghany County]. The only thing we're getting out here in this part of the state is prisons. I'm a college graduate, with honors, from Virginia Tech, and I can't find a decent job. The skilled, educated people in Western Virginia have to leave to find a job, and it's usually in the Triad of North Carolina or Northern Virginia."
However, Turner, the car salesman, says folks here should look at things another way - and consider the benefits of living within a few hours' drive of one of the nation's most affluent regions. If Northern Virginia prospers, the rest of the state will benefit indirectly, he says.
"People have for years separated Northern Virginia and the rest of the state to a certain extent," he says. "I don't see any sense in that. Hey, we're all in the same state."
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