Lawmakers Warned About Tax Cut
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 31, 1997; Page B04
The hearing on the state budget at the Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community College was attended mostly by Democratic members of the House and Senate and interest group advocates.
"I understand that the central plank of Governor-elect Gilmore's platform was the elimination of a tax, not the expansion of services," said John M. Stephens, chairman of the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board.
"Nevertheless, the time has come for Virginia to recognize that it has long ignored the true scope of the needs of the mentally retarded, persons with mental illness and those suffering from alcohol and drug addiction."
More than 80 people spoke at the first of six hearings that will be held throughout the commonwealth in the next three weeks by the Senate Finance Committee and House Appropriation Committee.
The hearings give citizens a chance to comment on the two-year, $39.9 billion budget submitted by Gov. George Allen (R), who leaves office Jan. 17. Allen included $260 million to cover the first stage of his Republican successor's plan to phase out the personal property tax on cars and trucks.
Legislators in both parties said they expected few major changes in Allen's spending plan.
"This is the most generous budget since the recession" of the early 1990s, said Del. Vincent F. Callahan Jr. (R-Fairfax). "The money's there, because the economy's booming."
Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax) said, however, that lawmakers would try to respond to the testimony from people dependent on state services.
"Governor Allen's budget is our rough draft," she said. "Governor Gilmore will refine it, and the legislature will perfect it."
Citizens spoke up for 4-H, warned of unfunded highway needs and sought additional spending on libraries, museums and the arts.
Most people in the room wore orange-and black stickers featuring an old-fashioned key and the words "Unlock the Waiting List." That was a plea from The Arc of Virginia for a reduction in waiting lists for employment, housing and other programs for mentally retarded people.
© Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company
