Local government advocates were mostly relieved as Senate and House budget negotiators today released the details of the deal made on a two-year budget.

“It could have been much worse,” said Mary Jo Fields, a budget analyst for the Virginia Municipal League after a Senate Finance Committee briefing this afternoon.

True, state aid for K-12 education would be cut an additional $253 million over the next two years, but’s a far sight less than the $685 million in cuts recommended by the House. Funding for sheriff’s and police departments was mostly restored from deep cuts sought by both houses. The state restored much of the aid for constitutional officers—commonwealth’s attorneys., treasurers, commissioners of revenue, and finance directors.

Most important to localities, the proposed budget won’t raid the Communications Sales and Use Tax Fund, created four years ago out of a myriad of taxes charged on phone bills by local governments. The House treated the fund as state tax revenues, while local governments and telecommunications companies insisted that the money be kept for localities. On the other hand, the money for the positions will come from state cuts in direct aid to localities, but local governments prefer it that way.

One provision that’s already stirring opposition among anti-tax groups is a $2 increase in the so-called Four for Life Fund fee charged on motor vehicle registrations to pay for various emergency medical service training programs, equipment grants, and local rescue squad recruitment. The increase will raise the fee to $6.25 from $4.25, which is part of the $38.75 registration cost for most vehicles. It will raise about $12.6 mllion a year, allowing the state to restore money taken from the EMS funds, support the State Police medical helicopter operation, and generate money for the general tax fund. Opposition already is arising from organizations that regard the increase as a tax that has little to do with the services it would finance.

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