Fees emerge as central dispute in Va. budget

Published March 8, 2010 5:00am ET



The dispute over whether to raise hundreds of millions worth of fees in Virginia has emerged as one of the largest fractures between the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-led Senate.

The argument is central to the legislature’s basic set of revenue assumptions as it looks to close a more than $4 billion budget gap. The Senate wants to blunt major cuts to K-12 education by raising the charges for a range of services, from court visits to marriage licenses to boiler inspections. Altogether, their plan would raise $326 million in new revenue over the next two years.

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