Category: Government Finance
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Governor, GOP Not Selling Their Tax Reforms
by Steve Haner The following paragraph was written five months ago. It is reproduced now with some emphasis added. The 2023 Virginia General Assembly tax debate is just another revival of an old political show. Last year it ended well for new Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) and for those hoping to pay less in state…
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Check Out Which New Virginia Laws Go Into Effect July 1st
by The Republican Standard staff The Virginia General Assembly passed several small bills due to the split between the Republican-led House of Delegates and the Democratic-controlled Virginia State Senate. Yet the areas where they did find co-operation could matter to many Virginians as we head into Fourth of July weekend. Enhanced Penalties for Fentanyl Manufacturing…
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VRS “Diet COLA” Squeezes Pensions Second Time
by Steve Haner Virginia’s “Diet COLA” approach to calculating annual inflation increases to Virginia Retirement System pensions has constrained the increases once again. Beneficiaries will see a benefit increase of 5% effective July 1, up from the 3.85% increase they received a year ago. Both are below what they would have been if the increase…
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Light Rail: Idiotic Idea In 2016. Idiotic Idea Now.
by Kerry Dougherty Virginia Beach voters THOUGHT they drove a stake through the heart of the absurd plan to bring light rail to the city after an overwhelming vote in 2016 against the nutty, developer-driven boondoggle. But never underestimate cultists with an agenda. You know, developers who believe taxpayers have a duty to open their…
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Without Full $1B Tax Cut, Let July 1 Deadline Pass
by Steve Haner Because the federal government cannot operate without constantly borrowing money, members of Congress in both parties recently held their noses and voted for a compromise budget and borrowing deal. That need not and should not happen now in Virginia. There is no similar pressure in Virginia, even though the June 30 end…
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UVa Board Trims Next-Year Tuition by 0.7%. Big Whoop.
by James A. Bacon Responding to a Youngkin administration request for Virginia’s public colleges and universities to curb tuition increases, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors voted this morning to reduce a scheduled 3.7% tuition hike next year to 3.0%. As explained by Chief Operating Officer J.J. Davis, the shaving of $5.5 million from…
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Major Actions to Reduce Corporate Overhead Offer Lessons and Opportunities to Virginia Government
by James C. Sherlock The chart above shows that management and administrative overhead growth has been a trend not limited to government. The difference is that corporations are making quick and decisive strides in reversing the trend. It is axiomatic that government should minimize overhead to maximize efficiency in delivery of services. And to lower…
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As U.S. Teeters On the Brink of Recession, Virginia Beach Hikes Taxes
by Kerry Dougherty Do you mind if I’m brutally honest for a minute? Good. Because there’s no stopping me today. Any member of the Virginia Beach City Council majority who voted Tuesday to approve an obscene $2.5 billion budget as the country teeters on the edge of a recession is a liar if they try…
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Is Stingy State Funding to Blame for UVa Tuition Increases?
by James A. Bacon In explaining the cause of rising tuition & fees at the University of Virginia, we described last week how the driving force over the past 20 years has been a relentless increase in spending. Expenditures in the academic division of the University of Virginia, fueled by an expansion in salaries, increased…
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RVA 5×5: Behind in the Count
by Jon Baliles Baseball season is in full swing and I have already been to three games to celebrate spring, sport, and sun. And because this is Richmond, I sometimes wonder how much longer I will be able to repeat this ritual in Aprils in the future. This week, the city announced it had reached…
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Tuition Showdown May Be Approaching
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Virginia colleges and universities are saying that they will have to raise tuition for the next school year unless the General Assembly gives them more money. This is going to be fascinating to watch. Governor Youngkin has been able to get appointments to the boards of visitors, but not yet enough to…
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Sens. Warner, Kaine Visit Roanoke To Tout New Bridge But City Council In The Dark About Scope of Project
by Scott Dreyer On a picture-perfect April 12 with a backdrop of the sparkling Roanoke River and dogwoods and redbuds in bloom, Virginia’s Senator Mark Warner (D) and Senator Tim Kaine (D) visited the Roanoke Greenway at Roanoke City’s Smith Park. The occasion was for the two senators to present a cardboard poster representing a…
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Dionysian Rites at a Spotsylvania County School Board Meeting
by James C. Sherlock The FY 2023 budget for Spotsylvania County was $341,355,792. In increasing the 2022 budget, the Supervisors transferred an additional $5.8 million to schools to “Address the Commitment to Educational Opportunities.” That brought the total transfer to schools to $138,081,416 including that $5.8 million (4.4%) increase. It was pointed out offhandedly in…
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Langley Looks to the Moon
by Robin Beres While mainstream media may be transfixed by the gutter politics going on in New York, exciting, uplifting events are happening in other parts of the nation — including in our very own little city of Hampton. Located on Hampton’s Langley Air Force Base just off the Chesapeake Bay, the Langley Research Center…
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Virginia Municipal Bond Issuers Face Higher Costs for Borrowing
by James C. Sherlock People learn — and relearn- – things over time about investing. One of the things they have learned over the past three years about investing in municipal bonds, as with all bonds, is that, having experienced the effects of inflation risk for the first time in decades, they will want a…