Whipple, Scott Outline Hopes & Fears of Richmond Session

The big news at Saturday's town meeting hosted by State Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple and State Del. Jim Scott at the Falls Church Community Center was Scott's announcement he'd been appointed to the House Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful bodies in the legislature.

According to the formula used in Richmond, the gain by Democrats of a single seat in the House last November meant that a threshold was met requiring one additional Democrat to be named to each House committee, even though the Republicans still enjoy the majority on all.

On other matters of specific interest to Falls Church and environs, Sen. Whipple said she's pushing a measure to give counties the same taxing authority as cities in the state. This will be important in an effort to raise the cigarette tax, she said. Now, the counties, including Fairfax and Arlington, are severely restricted by state law on how much they can tax a pack of cigarettes.

The City of Falls Church does not have the same restriction, because it is an "independent city" as defined by the Virginia constitution. But because cigarette taxes in Fairfax and Arlington are so low, it deters Falls Church from raising its tax too much, for fear that it would drive customers out of the city to buy their taxes in a surrounding jurisdiction. Therefore, both the counties and cities are hurt by this restriction with the average cigarette tax in Virginia far below the national average.

Whipple said that the City of Falls Church's requested changes to its charter, which require state approval, are pro forma and will be OK'd.

Whipple and Scott said there is little that can be done about a huge increase coming in the City's (and all jurisdictions') increased responsibility for funding the Virginia Retirement System, which could cost Falls Church an additional $564,500 annually. The system "road the stock market in the late 1990s," and avoided any annual rate increases as a result, Whipple said, until now. (Falls Church Mayor Dan Gardner, present at the town meeting, commented, "I am astonished at the lack of foresight" in the matter).

Otherwise, the issues in Richmond capturing daily headlines were most of what Whipple and Scott discussed with an unusually large turnout of constituents Saturday.

Gov. Mark Warner outlined a proposed budget for the coming two-year period that involves some significant tax increases, especially for those at the upper end of the income scale, and leaders of the Republican-controlled House and Senate have already responded. Surprisingly, a Senate alternative includes even more added tax revenues than Gov. Warner, and this week, Del. Vince Callahan (R-McLean) issued a no tax hike alternative showing that even by eliminating every single new penny added to Gov. Warner's budget, the state would still come in $270 short of a balanced budget.

Callahan's offering was more instructive than serious, intended to demonstrate how unworkable a push to avoid any tax increase would be, according to a member of the House Appropriations staff.

Scott noted that, under Virginia's system, the governor wields a particularly big stick relative to the legislature, especially when neither house is "veto-proof," as is now the case.

The leaders of both bodies know that if they pass budgets the governor will not accept, he will veto them, and it's back to square one. So, they began in December to meet and work with the governor in hopes that when matters are finally sorted out at the end of this 60-day "long" session of the legislature, the budget product will be something the governor will approve.