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JOHN T. TOLER, Executive Vice President
To Subscribe Phone (703) 675-3338
BY MAIL: $14.00 a year in Rappahannock and adjoining counties
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OFFICE: Rappannock News Bldg . Washington, Va. 227<7
Telephone: 703-675-3338
HOURS: 8:30 a m. to 5:30 p.m., Mon.-Fri.
Published by Arundel Newspapers
Member, Audit Bureau of Circulation.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11,1990
Budget whoa!
As the General Assembly opens its two-month session with the State of the Commonwealth address by outgoing Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, the situation can be summed up in two words: “Deep debt.”
Legislators, regardless of their political leanings, agree that major surgery will be necessary to correct the state’s hemorrhaging budget deficit. Though there’s been no talk of a tax increase, most expect that programs across the Commonwealth face cuts to eliminate the estimated $1 billion shortfall.
'The total deficit is still not certain, but it could rise even higher if the state is forced to refund pension taxes levied in past years against retired federal and local employees as a result of last year’s Supreme Court Davis v. Michigan ruling.
Already, localities have been warned not to expect the real estate recordation taxes, which were to have been returned as part of an agreement reached by last year’s Assembly. Tax relief favored by incoming Governor L. Douglas Wilder, which would primarily benefit the poor and elderly, will also likely fade from consideration. *
Lottery revenues, targeted before for capital improvement projects, will instead by shifted to the general fund to cushion the shortfall. We have one suggestion: that any further talk of a new $20 million Lottery headquarters be quickly scotched — for good.
We understand the state’s problem. We have it here too': Existing services cost more each year to provide, and along with that is an ever-increasing clamor for additional services. Meanwhile, the state has continued to enact new legislation, requiring new or expanded programs, without providing money to fund them.
It is time for the state’s legislators to look critically and carefully at the entire budget, looking for places to trim the fat. And, to help the localities in keeping a lid on the burgeoning costs of local government, we suggest a legislative ban on additional state-mandated programs — unless the money to fund those programs is handed down from Richmond along with the edict.
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