CUTS HITTING LOCALLY

kaine announces cuts

BY CHELYEN DAVIS AND KELLY HANNON

Date published: 9/9/2009

BY CHELYEN DAVIS AND KELLY HANNON

RICHMOND--

Sheriff's departments in the state will have state funds reduced by 4.7 percent, Germanna Community College will lose 13 percent of its state funding and the University of Mary Washington will drop by 15 percent or about $3 million.

Kaine also will lay off 593 state workers, cut nearly every state agency by at least 5 percent, use the rainy day fund, and close three correctional facilities to help make up a budget shortfall of $1.35 billion in the current budget year.

He also plans to propose that state employees start covering part of the cost of their retirement in the future.

Kaine is not proposing any tax increases to offset the loss in revenue that is attributed to the economic recession.

Kaine said the net loss for state colleges will be more like 7 percent if the federal government allows the state to reallocate some stimulus funding.

Colleges will make their own decisions whether to help make that up by raising tuition, although at community colleges, tuition is mostly set at the state level.

Germanna Community College president David Sam said that postpones pain until the 2011 budget year, when colleges likely will see the full 13 percent cuts that community colleges otherwise would have had now.

"I can't tell you yet what that means for us," Sam said, adding that the college hasn't done its budget for next year.

For this current budget year, Sam said Germanna knew cuts were coming, so has already reduced spending as required.

He said the effect on students is that some classes are full, parking is now flowing into grassy areas, and the college has had to postpone beginning pricey medical and technological programs that local hospitals had wanted.

The University of Mary Washington had already planned for how to cut 6 percent from its budget, although it had not yet made the cuts, said Torre Meringolo, vice president for advancement and university relations.

Overview Cuts total $1.35 billion from the state general fund. The fourth round of cuts since July 2005. So far, the shortfall for the current two-year, $34 billion budget since it took effect in July 2008 is $5.5 billion. No new taxes. About $9 million in increased fees, including a fee to book state park reservations by phone. No borrowing or new state debt. State will withdraw about $280 million from the state's "rainy day" fund reserves, leaving a balance of about $300 million. HUMAN TOLL Layoffs: 593. Vacant state jobs not being filled: 336. A one-day unpaid furlough for approximately 101,000 executive branch state government workers on the Friday before Memorial Day 2010. Critical public safety and emergency agencies have discretion to take another day. A $104 million state reduction in contributions to the Virginia Retirement System will force state employees to contribute to their own retirement plans for the first time since 1983. HARDEST HITS Public safety cuts total $130.6 million. Includes closing prisons in Botetourt and Brunswick and a juvenile correctional center at Natural Bridge. Public safety accounts for 342 layoffs, 58 percent of the 593 total layoffs; 225 layoffs alone in Department of Corrections and 75 more in the Department of Juvenile Justice. State-supported colleges and universities lose about $194 million, a reduction of 13 percent to 15 percent. Kaine hopes to cut that in half by getting federal permission to use federal stimulus funds reserved for 2011 early. Cuts by institution: Virginia Commonwealth University, $25.1 million; Virginia Tech, $21.8 million; University of Virginia, $19.2 million; George Mason University, $17.6 million; Old Dominion University, $14.2 million; James Madison University, $9.9 million; Radford University, $6.4 million; The College of William & Mary, $6 million; Norfolk State University, $5.2 million; Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension, $4.5 million; Christopher Newport University, $3.5 million; Longwood University, $3.5 million; Virginia State University, $3.3 million; University of Mary Washington, $3 million; Virginia Institute of Marine Research, $2.8 million; Virginia Military Institute, $1.8 million; Richard Bland College, $683,772; Virginia State Cooperative Extension, $108,484; Virginia Community College System, $45.7 million. State funding of public libraries is cut by 5 percent. UNSCATHED Direct aid to local public schools. With budgets already in place and the school year already begun, Kaine said the cuts would be too disruptive.

Follow us on

Date published: 9/9/2009

Most recent reader comments: