THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 6, 1996 TAG: 9602060289
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
A General Assembly panel told the Virginia Beach City Council on Monday that upcoming elections - not state intervention - will answer any lingering questions about the financial accountability of the city's School Board.
Del. Shirley F. Cooper, D-Yorktown, noted that municipal elections in May will give Virginia Beach residents a chance to elect a majority of School Board members dedicated to tight fiscal management.
Cooper said the electorate would vote to make certain Beach school management will avoid future messes like the $12 million budget deficit that schools ran up last year.
``The problem,'' Cooper told members of the House Education Committee, ``is that a lot of people are not giving (school officials) enough time to work it out themselves.''
The education committee later rejected an effort by Virginia Beach Del. Robert Tata to impose new state restrictions on Beach school budgets.
One Tata bill would have allowed City Council to withhold up to 5 percent of school funding each year until it had assurances that spending was staying within available revenues. The second would have held school officials personally liable to repay any shortfall.
Tata said that an elected School Board was no answer because new members would have no experience in managing huge financial operations. He predicted that elections will lead to further shenanigans - in Virginia Beach and elsewhere in the state - as elected members press school administrators to shift funds around to pay for favorite projects.
The Senate has approved a bill by Virginia Beach Sen. Edward L. Schrock that would give the Virginia Beach City Council greater control over the School Board's budget.
But the death of Tata's less-sweeping bills sends a clear signal that the House of Delegates considers the Beach school deficit a local problem that should not be solved in Richmond.
In other action, Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield's request for General Assembly approval of its bid to become a for-profit stock company received a warm reception before two committees.
Trigon officials announced that a change in accounting procedures meant the insurer would contribute $165 million - up from the previously announced $159 million - to help balance the state budget and to create a charitable foundation.
Lawmakers brushed aside complaints by consumer groups that Trigon owes the public more for tax breaks it enjoyed for 50 years. Rather, legislators were more concerned about finding a way to spend the entire $165 million during the 1996-98 state budget cycle.
Del. George H. Heilig Jr., D-Norfolk, suggested the Assembly leave only a token sum - perhaps as little as $100,000 - to the charitable foundation.
Deputy Attorney General Catherine C. Hammond argued against gutting the proposed foundation, saying it would serve two important purposes.
One, the foundation would appoint two people to the 18-member Trigon board to give the public some oversight of a company with a litany of ``terrible'' consumer problems, Hammond said.
Second, the foundation - with a $70 million endowment - could provide matching grants to the state's teaching universities and research laboratories. ``Do you want to have a future, permanent vision for spending the money?'' Hammond asked members of a House Appropriations subcommittee.
Del. Alan A. Diamonstein, D-Newport News, replied that state colleges and universities have pressing financial needs in the coming biennium.
``They need money now to continue to exist,'' Diamonstein said.
Consumer advocates pleaded their case that Trigon pay more to the public and that the money should be used for the state's unmet health care needs.
Jean Ann Fox, volunteer lobbyist for the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, said her pleas are being ignored because lawmakers can't wait to get their hands on the Trigon money.
``Still, I feel I have an obligation,'' she sighed, as she listened to the debate from the back of the committee room.
Trigon, the state's largest insurer, is seeking legislation that would lock into law key elements of its for-profit plan before the State Corporation Commission hears the case in May.
Trigon officials say they need the ability to sell stock for capital to expand in a fast-changing health industry.
In other action:
In an 8-6 vote, a Senate committee endorsed a proposal by Gov. George F. Allen to reduce the amount of public participation in adopting new pollution permit regulations.
Environmental activists oppose the measure, saying citizens need more - not less - opportunity to comment on proposed regulation changes that would make it easier for dry cleaners and other small businesses to obtain discharge permits.
``Streamlining we're for. Steamrolling over the process we're not for,'' Kay Slaughter, staff attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville, told the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee.
The bill, introduced by Democratic Sen. Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount, would exempt general permits for air and water from the citizen participation provisions of the state's Administrative Process Act.
The Senate gave preliminary approval Monday to a bill that would ban casino gambling interests, including riverboat gambling, from contributing to campaigns for statewide office and the General Assembly. MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD BUDGET by CNB