
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 3, 1990                   TAG: 9003032687
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ROB EURE POLITICAL WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Medium

WILDER FIRM ON LOW RAISES/ BUDGET PANELS GET GOVERNOR'S LETTER

Gov. Douglas Wilder Friday sent word to budget conferees that he would prefer a 4.5 percent raise for teachers and state employees included in the final budget package due to be completed next week.

Legislative sources confirmed Friday that Wilder is pressuring budget designers to stick with the lower raise, which is included in the House version of the budget, rather than the 5 percent increase approved by the Senate.

Wilder's office would say only that the governor sent a letter to the three House and three Senate conferees Friday outlining his preferences.

The negotiators are expected to release their compromise on the $25.8 billion two-year budget Wednesday or Thursday in time for action before the General Assembly adjourns March 10.

The House Finance Committee on Friday passed a package of Senate-passed measures raising about $265 million. But the action came about $40 million short of the money that Senate Finance Chairman Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, the chief Senate negotiator, needed to fund his proposal for the higher raises.

The Senate has passed bills raising about $40 million more than the House, mostly through deferrals of tax breaks and levying the state sales tax of 4.5 percent on the state-controlled sales of liquor.

The House Finance panel Friday amended some of the proposals, setting up a likely conference committee.

That means that while the Senate Finance Committee negotiators work with House Appropriations Committee conferees on the budget, the senators also will have to negotiate with the House Finance panel on revenues.

The action also restricts budget negotiators from spending the extra $40 million, because both chambers must agree to the revenue proposals before the budget-writing committees can assume the money is there.

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