Lawmakers near budget deal. Education funds await fate
House Appropriations Committee budget conferees and staff work in the Appropriations Library at the General Assembly Building in Richmond.
By Tyler Whitley and Jeff E. Schapiro Media General News Service
Published: March 13, 2010
Published: March 13, 2010
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RICHMOND — House and Senate negotiators are inching toward a compromise budget-balancing plan, promising to have a deal on lawmakers’ desks for today’s overtime finale to the 2010 General Assembly.
The Republican-dominated House of Delegates and Democrat-controlled Virginia Senate quit at mid-afternoon Saturday, having agreed to a one-day extension of the annual legislative session.
With additional time, budget conferees returned to work, edging toward agreement on spending over the next two years for public education, social services and law enforcement.
As of Saturday evening, the fate of a budget amendment that would take $2.8 million in education funding from Charlottesville and give it to Albemarle County beginning next fiscal year was still not known.
The measure was introduced by Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle County, in an attempt to account for the city and county’s revenue-sharing agreement when calculating state funding levels for education. The local agreement has resulted in annual exchanges of county tax revenue to the city for nearly 30 years, in exchange for the city not having annexed county land.
This year, Charlottesville received more than $18 million from its yearly payment.
But, the money is counted toward Albemarle County’s wealth instead of Charlottesville’s, something Bell has sought to change. If the amendment is included in the state’s final budget and it is passed, the result would be more state funding for the county and less for the city every year.
There have been reports that the amendment will not make it into the final budget, but that could not be confirmed Saturday.
