I haven’t agreed with much that Sen. John H. Chichester has said over the years, but I do find him making sense as he nears the end of his nearly 40-year tenure in the General Assembly.
First, reports Chelyen Davis with the Free Lance-Star, Chichester warned Gov. Timothy M. Kaine not to address a projected $641 revenue shortfall by raiding the Rainy Day Fund, which is set aside for fiscal emergencies.
Secondly, he says that the state should instead take back some of the roughly $500 million in General Assembly cash allocated to transportation projects. That makes total sense. The justification for using General Fund money to pay for transportation projects was the fact that it was surplus (not needed to fund ongoing programs). Even Homer Simpson could figure this out: If the surplus isn’t materializing as projected, don’t cut other programs — cut back the funding for transportation!
Gov. Kaine and the General Assembly took a risk when they agreed to fund transportation with surplus revenues. Things didn’t turn out like they hoped. Now it’s time to pay the piper.