THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 19, 1995 TAG: 9501190375
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
The Allen administration may - or may not - have promised to restore all funding to the new campus of Tidewater Community College now under construction downtown.
The answer is important because someone will end up paying $1.25million this year to help finance construction of the campus on Granby Street. It will be either the state or private fund-raisers and the city of Norfolk.
The confusion started with testimony made during a House Appropriation hearing last Thursday and dialogue between Del. George Heilig, D-Norfolk, and Allen's secretary of education, Beverly Sgro.
Heilig says Sgro made a flat promise not to block a move by Heilig and other local legislators to restore a promised $1.25million to the TCC campus. Allen cut the money for the college in his proposed state budget.
Sgro says she agreed - but only if legislators met a long list of demands by Allen to fulfill his goals of cutting taxes and state spending.
Shortly before this month's session began, Allen announced that he would cut all funding for the downtown TCC campus. The college, city officials say, is vital for reviving downtown and for teaching job skills to inner-city residents. Cutting all funding would mean cutting $1.25 million the college was due this year and annual payments of $1.3 million over 20 years to repay long-term bonds.
Last week, after a meeting with Mayor Paul Fraim, Allen agreed to restore the $1.3 million annual payments over 20 years. That meant construction of the college could continue, city officials said.
But Allen said in a letter to Fraim that the city would have to raise on its own the $1.25 million originally due the college this year. Two days later, Sgro testified about the state's education budget to the House Appropriation Committee. That's when Heilig popped his question.
``Sgro agreed that if we put the money back in, the administration would also go along with that,'' Heilig said. ``That was made very clear by me. She added none of those conditions. There was no `but this' or any of that.''
Sgro remembers differently.
``My comment was, I believe, that if they could find a way to restore that money, and still give a tax cut to working-class Virginians, and support reduction of the BPOL (business, professional and occupational license) tax, then certainly the governor would entertain such a thing,'' Sgro said this week.
Who's right? Richard Seaman, a member of the House Appropriation Committee staff, said he remembers Sgro agreeing to the restoration of all funding to the college without qualifications.
``I don't recall her qualifying her answer in any way,'' Seaman said. ``But no one was taking notes.''
Late Wednesday, Sgro said she may have mixed up her conversation with Heilig with different testimony given the previous day.
``Del. Heilig remembers it probably better than I do because he wasn't testifying for three hours,'' Sgro said.
But the final word: Sgro said Allen, although ``sympathetic'' to the TCC college, still would have to balance it against his desire for tax and spending cuts.
``I don't think it can be considered in a vacuum,'' Sgro said.
If the legislature restores funding to the college, Allen can veto the budget amendment and then propose his own funding, or lack of it. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Beverly Sgro, secretary of education, denies saying $1.25 million
would be restored for the campus.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY TIDEWATER COMMUNITY COLLEGE NORFOLK
CAMPUS by CNB