THURSDAY, AUGUST 16,1990

THURSDAY, AUGUST 16,1990

Hard choices

Gov. L. Douglas Wilder will address the Commonwealth on Thursday, Aug. 16, with, we hope, solutions to the state’s current budget shortfall of $1.4 billion.

On Friday, he will take his plan to the General Assembly’s money committees.

Though we’re sure that the governor has long ago decided on what action he favors, we hope that he doesn’t follow the lead of the federal government and balance the state budget at the expense of local governments.

That tactic, favored by the Reagan administration, involved transferring the responsibility — and the funding — for government programs from the federal to the state level. It helped ease the federal deficit, but it has contributed to the current fiscal difficulties in Virginia and many other states.

In short, it amounts to a budgetary shell game.

We, the taxpayers, fund the programs — whether our taxes are paid to Washington, D.C., Richmond or Rappahannock County. Many of the programs are “mandated” — in other words, the localities have no choice but to provide them. Unfortunately, the federal and state governments that mandate the programs all too often neglect to provide money along with the mandate.

Perhaps the current funding crisis is a good time to declare a moratorium on mandates. This move won’t solve the budget shortfall by itself, but it should go a long way toward preventing the deficit from continuing to grow.

Local governments have got their hands full already trying to meet their obligations without driving their residents into the poorhouse. A shift of funding from the state to its localities isn’t the answer — and it is political cowardice.

Gov. Wilder has proven in the past that he is willing to take corageous and unpopular positions when necessary. We hope that he will step up and deliver the strong leadership that the Commonwealth badly needs in dealing with its budget problems.