DATE: Tuesday, November 25, 1997            TAG: 9711250600

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEDYARD KING, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   77 lines

COLLEGES JOIN BIDS FOR STATE FUNDS DELEGATES WEIGH WHAT TO SPEND FROM BUDGET IN CAR-TAX LIMBO

Nearly $180 million for more elementary school teachers. About $30 million to clean the water in state rivers. More than $345 million to pay for 3 percent raises for state workers.

The House of Delegates Appropriations Committee met Monday to figure out where to spend taxpayer money during the next biennium.

And, as if committee members didn't have enough budgetary choices to anguish over, the presidents of the state's public colleges and universities piled on with a request for as much as $860 million. They want the money to pay for updated labs, new buildings and higher salaries for professors.

If the state says no, warned the presidents, one of the commonwealth's precious assets will be tarnished.

``In the final analysis, a significant financial commitment to higher education will be necessary,'' said Timothy J. Sullivan, president of the College of William and Mary.

``We do have an exceptional system of considerable quality, but that quality is currently at risk. We are living off our inheritance, investments made a generation ago.''

Supported by some of Virginia's most vocal business leaders, the university heads are hoping to tap into the $1.1 billion in available general fund money the commonwealth is projected to have in its biennial budget.

The request comes at a time of robust growth in state revenues. Even so, the math isn't easy.

Along with requests for more than $2.1 billion known to the legislature, there is one proposal casting a shadow over all others: the phasing out of the personal property tax on cars promised by Gov.-elect James S. Gilmore III. To pay for it, the state will have to come up with as much as $531 million to reimburse local governments for the money they will lose.

And that doesn't count the $2.3 billion annual shortfall in transportation needs that usually are paid through bonds or special taxes.

State lawmakers - even some Democrats - have conceded they view Gilmore's election as a mandate to eliminate the car tax. But if the Senate Finance Committee's phase-out estimate of $531 million is right, that leaves less than $600 million to take care of all other spending requests in the state.

Until Gov. George F. Allen submits his budget to the legislature next month, it's not clear how well the college presidents will fare. But Gilmore spokesman Mark Miner said that eliminating the car tax remains a high priority.

``We'll examine the whole budget and look at the spending needs of the universities while at the same time providing tax relief,'' Miner said.

During his campaign, Gilmore promised George Mason University in Fairfax some $25 million over the next four years. GMU receives $3,153 in state aid per full-time student - less than half the amount received by similarly situated universities around the country - according to the Virginia Business Higher Education Council.

Committee members were unmoved and noncommittal Monday in the face of pleas by William and Mary's Sullivan and James Madison University President Ronald E. Carrier. Even the display of a large, color-coded chart showing how far Virginia's public institutions lag far behind their national counterparts in state spending failed to impress.

At least Bedford Del. Lacey E. Putney, the legislature's sole Independent, expressed sympathy.

``It's such a glaring deficiency, in my judgment,'' Putney said after Monday's meeting.

``It's time we show some political courage and (fix) it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Timothy J. Sullivan...

Graphic

WHAT'S AVAILABLE

WHAT HAS BEEN REQUESTED SO FAR

SOURCE: Senate Finance Committee

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm] KEYWORDS: BUDGET VIRGINIA