Danville-area lawmakers support budget cuts

By Bernard Baker

Published: October 9, 2008

Local legislators support Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s plan to make up a $2.5 billion budget deficit, even if it impacts programs locally.

Delegate Donald Merricks, R-Pittsylvania County, said though times are ahead for Virginia fi-nancially. He said now is not the time to consider raising taxes, and he agrees with cuts Kaine has made.

“These are not easy decisions. Somewhere you have to ask yourself this question: Is this pro-gram a core service of the Commonwealth of Virginia?” Merricks said.

“These are dire times. This is the beginning, and I don’t think we’ve seen the end.”

Merricks said people will be laid off. People will be hurt by the decisions the government has to make. But he said businesses do the same thing in order to survive, and the state has to operate in a similar manner.

Legislators need to sit down and prioritize what they want to do. Some programs may be cut further or eliminated because there’s not enough money. Merricks is against raising taxes to make up for the budget shortfall.

“You can’t borrow your way out of this,” he said.

Delegate Danny Marshall, R-Danville, supports the budget cuts — even the ones that will have a local impact.

“I applaud what they’re doing,” Marshall said.

Marshall was concerned when budget projections continued to get worse. The deficit started at $1 billion and grew to $2.5 billion.

The General Assembly was right to deny Kaine’s request to tap into the “rainy day fund” earlier this year. He said the request makes sense now.

“It’s raining outside now,” he said.

Income tax revenue does not appear to be a problem for state coffers, Marshall said. What’s hurting is a bust in the Northern Virginia real estate market — near the top in the nation — which hurts grantor tax collections and sales tax revenue is not what was projected.

“Consumers are not spending money,” Marshall said.

Marshall said Virginia must operate with a balanced budget. Virginia doesn’t have the option to print money to make up for any shortages, but the state will manage to get through the situa-tion.

Sen. Robert Hurt was in court and unavailable for comment.