RICHMOND
--In a week and a half, members of the legislative money committees will gather at the General Assembly building on a Sunday afternoon to present their own versions of the two-year state budget to rooms full of lobbyists and reporters.But it's not terribly clear what will be in those two budgets, and there seem to be some disagreements on the Senate side about how
Both the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee must craft budget proposals that absorb more than $4 billion in reduced revenues for the 2010-12 budget cycle.
Before he left office, former Gov. Tim Kaine wrote the blueprint budget that the committees work from. In it, Kaine included about $2 billion in painful cuts to services such as Medicaid, public education and public safety.
But, reluctant to cut more, he made up the other $2 billion of shortfall with tax and fee increases. Most noticeably, Kaine proposed eliminating the state's annual $950 million payment to localities to cover the car tax cut and replacing it with an income tax surcharge.
Republicans immediately rejected those proposals, but if they don't raise revenues, then they willl have to cut an additional $2 billion from the budget, on top of what Kaine cut.
That seems to be causing some divisions among the Democratic majority in the Senate.
Some senators have said they won't vote for a budget that doesn't raise revenues, while others seem resigned to the Republican governor and House's unwillingness to increase taxes.
"I think Senator [Chuck] Colgan is having a very difficult time trying to get a consensus among his Democratic colleagues," said Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, referring to the committee's chairman.
Wampler said he sees conflict over Gov. Bob McDonnell's push to change the composite index money for schools--something Kaine's budget froze. He also said there are concerns about retirement system changes and pre-K spending.
Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania, a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, said there's a "possibility" that disagreements will mean the Finance committee has trouble putting a budget together. "There's less consensus in the Senate, especially among Senate Democrats," Houck said.
Houck and other Democrats say the difficulties could be eased by public proposals from McDonnell. Senators have taken turns making floor speeches, decrying the devastating cuts to public health, education and safety, and pressuring McDonnell to produce budget amendments of his own, to help guide them in writing a budget that wouldn't eventually suffer the veto pen.
McDonnell has met privately with budget negotiators but says he has no plans to put out public budget proposals. He opposes raising taxes, another of the Democrats' complaints: Many of their speeches have mentioned a preference for raising revenues rather than cutting services and firing thousands of teachers, sheriff's deputies and health care workers.
"There is so much anxiety about this second $2 billion," Houck said earlier this week. "It's like a huge dark cloud. You know it's there. You've basically got an unwritten budget. It's invisible; you can't see it."
Houck said senators are asking interest groups--teachers, police and such--to come testify about the impact of more cuts on their programs. Many of those groups have already had press conferences this session to say the budget cuts already proposed would cripple the services they provide.
McDonnell said he is being specific in private meetings with budget-writers. He said his administration has offered "a number of ideas" and that he will offer budget leaders more specifics going forward.
He said it should be obvious that another $2 billion in painful spending cuts are on the way, and that the difficulty of making those cuts is why he has tried to work collaboratively with both houses.
McDonnell said the source of Senate Democrats' complaints is not a lack of pro-posals, but a lack of revenue increases.
"What they seem to be upset about is that I have come out against tax increases, which limits their options," McDonnell told reporters. "What they ought to be doing is spending time up in the Senate Finance Committee, crafting a budget."
Houck said McDonnell's ideas still haven't been specific enough, and that the governor needs to "go public and tell Virginians the magnitude" of cuts that may be coming.
In the Republican-dominated House, budget work is going more smoothly. According to Appropriations Committee Staff Director Robert Vaughn, the committee is using budget-cut proposals from state agencies themselves, requested last year by Kaine, as a blueprint. The agencies had submitted ideas for how they could cut their budgets by 5, 10 and 15 percent.
Vaughn said some attempt is being made to "equalize" reductions--cut more from areas that haven't seen deep cuts in the past.
House members are also looking at Virginia Retirement System contribution changes for new hires and other VRS changes, which Vaughn said could save the state $3 billion over two years, with some of those savings being seen immediately.
What's not in the House budget is elimination of car tax relief. "The number one goal is to make sure there's not a $950 million tax increase," Vaughn said.
He described House budget-writing efforts as "pretty far down the road," and said the House won't have trouble producing a final budget proposal for the Feb. 21 budget meeting.
Chelyen Davis: 540/368-5028
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com