Virginia General Assembly Update (March 1, 2010)
The Virginia House of Delegates and the state Senate have now passed their respective budgets. I voted against the House budget because of the draconian cuts that are being proposed for public education and human services. For example, the House budget reduces funding for both Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville. The Charlottesville cuts are far worse than those in Albemarle because of two things: first, Delegate Rob Bell's amendment to transfer $2.8 million per year from the City to County schools and, second, the way certain lottery funds are reallocated to school divisions. Preliminary figures indicate that Albemarle funding will remain flat in FY 2011 while Charlottesville's will drop by 20%. In FY 2012, Albemarle is projected to receive $2.7 million less than FY 2010; Charlottesville would receive $4 million less.
The budget passed the House on a straight party-line vote. The Senate budget cuts, while not satisfactory, are much less. If we will have to accept cuts, I prefer the Senate cuts to those of the House.
The House cuts fall more disproportionately on areas like Charlottesville which have a higher percentage of children in the schools on free- and reduced-lunch programs. This change is found in the way lottery proceeds are distributed, so that programs designed to help students from low-income families would be funded based not on the number of low-income students but on the number of overall students in a locality. That restructuring will cost Charlottesville an additional $629,000 for FY 2011; Albemarle, however, will receive an additional $344,000 because of the change.
The House budget will likely eliminate teacher positions while increasing class sizes, neither of which I support. In addition, the House budget dramatically cuts Medicaid services and reduces the reimbursement rates for hospitals and nursing homes, with the result that all of us will pay additional monies for these services. The House Republican budget also proposes totally eliminating funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities located in Charlottesville.
Since Governor McDonnell and the House Republican caucus took the position that there would be no revenue increases in the budget, the only choice became where to cut. Given the needs of our communities and the impact of cuts, it is very difficult to embrace a "cuts only" approach to the budget, and I therefore decided to vote against it.
The next step in this process is that the House and Senate budgets "crossover" to the other body where they will be considered. The House will likely reject the Senate budget and the Senate likely will reject the House budget, which means that both budgets will go into a conference committee composed of a small number of representatives from both bodies. The budget will presumably be hammered out in those meetings, a conference report will be produced, and we will vote on a final budget sometime prior to adjournment in mid-March.
I also want to report on my efforts to enhance City/County cooperation. A meeting has been scheduled for the elected officials in late April, which hopefully will begin a discussion on how we can increase the level of cooperation in our community. In addition, I have created a website on which citizens can post their comments and ideas for city/county cooperation so they can be shared with elected officials and others that wish to join the discussion. It is at http://city-county.blogspot.com. I encourage you to participate in the discussion and forward this link to others who may be interested in this debate.
As always, it is an honor to represent this region, and I hope you will feel free to write me with suggestions or comments on legislation before us or the budget.
Please call the Charlottesville office at (434) 220-1660, send emails to deldtoscano@house.state.va.us, or send letters to David Toscano, 211 E. High St, Charlottesville, VA 22902.
Sincerely,
David Toscano
