SUUVA / CWA » Articles » KAINE BUDGET PLAN INCLUDES RAINY DAY FUND-THE RICHMOND TIMES DISPATCH, DECEMBER 17, 2007

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KAINE BUDGET PLAN INCLUDES RAINY DAY FUND-THE RICHMOND TIMES DISPATCH, DECEMBER 17, 2007

Posted: Monday December 17, 2007

Kaine budget plan includes rainy-day fund

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine at this hour is rolling out the final details of his spending wish list for 2008-10.

This includes a promised raid on the rainy-day fund to balance the current budget. Kaine wants $261 million from the $1.2 billion emergency fund. When he said last summer that emergency funds were necessary to balance the current budget, Kaine said he might recommend taking as much as $341 million from the rainy-day fund.

The General Assembly, which returns to Richmond Jan. 9, will have the final say on a drawdown from the rainy-day fund.

Republicans, who control the House of Delegates and GOP senators, say they oppose the drawdown.

Another new detail of the Kaine budget: He wants the state to fully finance its share of local public school budgets. That would require an additional $1 billion over the 2008-2010 biennium, which begins July 1.

Many features of the Kaine budget, likely to exceed $74 billion, were released last week.

These include more money for mental health in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, additional dollars for foster care and health care for low-income Virginians, more than $1 billion in voter-approved bonds to pay for construction at colleges and universities and a 3 percent pay raise for public employees in July 2009.