Growls

Friday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch reports, “Top fiscal officials in the Warner administration knew about a major budget mistake involving schools funding for seven months before Gov. Timothy M. Kaine independently learned about the $137 million error.” The newspaper notes, “The crux of the original problem was that tax and finance analysts overestimated the amount of cash available for distribution to school districts in each year of the two-year budget because they did not take into account the speeded-up reduction of the sales tax on groceries.”

Officials of the outgoing Gov. Mark Warner (D) administration knew of the error in December, but failed to notify anyone in the administration of incoming Gov. Tim Kaine (D). John Bennett, now a senior vice president at Virginia Commonwealth University, takes full responsibility for the error, even having convened a meeting to discuss the cause of the problem. Del. Vince Callahan (R-McLean), who requested the review by the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission, told the newspaper, “It's embarrassing to the [Warner] administration.”