THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 14, 1994 TAG: 9412140007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
Tightening of parole in Virginia, now the nation's stingiest state in releasing prisoners early, is contributing to a potential shortfall in the current budget that, by law, Governor Allen and the General Assembly must erase.
So the 1995 legislative session will try to close an income-outgo gap that otherwise could go as high as $500 million by the biennium's end on June 30, 1996. The budget, the state Constitution says, will be balanced.
But only a dollar balance is mandated. Allen and Assembly members also have a moral obligation to their constituents to keep the whole sweep of state services in reasonable balance.
The administration is pushing a costly anti-criminal program in part because the governor has interpreted such action as complying with a mandate from voters. Presumably, then, Virginians are willing to pay more for the allegedly increased safety in their homes and on the streets. Alas, Allen wants them to pay less. He has proposed phased state-income-tax relief beginning next year.
As a result, other state services, particularly education, appear destined to sustain further hits. This would translate into the commonwealth's cutting its investments in success in order to invest billions more in failure.
Beyond this, stressed localities face higher costs and other consequences. Their jails, already dangerously overcrowded, seem destined to become more so: Denying parole to 83 percent of eligible inmates has further slowed the state's pace of taking convicted felons off local sheriffs' hands. The no-parole legislation effective Jan. 1 will stretch the schedule even more.
This being the Christmas season, we remind the governor and the legislature that when it comes to balancing the budget: No, Virginia, there isn't a Santa Claus. by CNB