RICHMOND — The Virginia House Appropriations and Senate Finance committees found some common ground in their respective budgets released Sunday, but differed sharply on how much they want to spend on items like education, transportation and the state’s pension fund. Legislators were cautiously optimistic regarding Virginia’s fiscal outlook following billions of dollars in cuts in recent years. Gov. Bob McDonnell recently revised the state’s revenue projections upward by $152 million in the current two-year budget. “The reality is that we will need to continue to show restraint if we are to match our budget to the constraints of our ongoing revenue stream,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Lacey Putney, I-Bedford.
The House and Senate agreed to fund a variety of items for Northern Virginia. The Senate included $11,000 for Care Coordination for the Elderly in Prince William County and new bond project authorizations for George Mason University. A House amendment would require Northern Virginia transportation officials to add the secretary of transportation or his designee to Metro’s board of directors.
The House and Senate both proposed about $50 million for economic development efforts, including $25 million for a research and technology investment program on the House side.
But the committees took different tacks on items like education, transportation, and the Virginia Retirement System.
The House wants about $100 million for new funding for higher education, including $61 million to help students deal with potential tuition increases. But it would partially offset that with a $50 million net reduction in spending on direct aid to K-12 education.
Senate budget writers, meanwhile, call for $100 million more for both K-12 and higher education.
The House also recommended that all state employees contribute 5 percent of their salaries to the state’s pension system starting June 25, to be offset by a 5 percent raise, while the Senate eschewed having the employees start paying into the system as the governor proposed.
The chambers were also at odds over how they want to use $150 million in general fund money left over from fiscal 2010. The House recommended putting it toward the governor’s transportation funding plan, while the Senate wants to redirect it to other programs.
“These dollars are better spent repairing the damage to our recession-wracked education, public safety, and health care programs rather than filling potholes,” said Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax.
The legislature will have to continue at a breakneck pace to hammer out a budget amenable to both chambers before the General Assembly’s scheduled adjournment on Feb. 26.
