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Local lawmakers are sticking to their convictions By DANI DODGE Mail Tribune Local legislators said Wednesday they aren't wavering from their positions on taxes despite a looming balanced budget deadline. "There are a number of different tax proposals being made and I am a 'no' on all of them," said Rep. Cherryl Walker, R-Murphy. "I'm a 'no' whether it's a straight-up tax or a referral (to the voters.) "Just as an individual would do with their family, you go to reserves before you raise a tax." Walker said there are enough one-time revenues and funds to borrow from to get the state through this year's crisis. But Rep. Alan Bates, D-Ashland, said it isn't prudent to borrow and use up the state's one-time revenue when there's no increase in revenues on the horizon. "You don't take all your savings out hoping you will have a good job next year," Bates said. "We have to have a careful and prudent approach to this." Bates said increases to the cigarette tax and the liquor tax should be considered as long as they don't hurt the state's wineries and micro breweries and are "in the context of a budget that minimizes the loss to K through 12 and protects our seniors and children." Local legislators have been up in Salem since at least Monday trying to find a way to crawl out of the state's gaping budget deficit. Sen. Lenn Hannon, R-Ashland, spent Wednesday meeting behind closed doors with two Senate Democrats and another Senate Republican coming up with a bipartisan agreement for $472 million in cuts. He noted that representatives are the ones who must come up with ways to create the revenue needed to fill in the other side of the shortfall. He said he hasn't made any hard and fast decisions on how he'll vote when a revenue package hits the Senate. "I'm not willing to tell you what I'm willing to support at this time until I see what is sent over," Hannon said. But Sen. Jason Atkinson, R-Jacksonville, said he doesn't expect any tax increases to pass through the Legislature. "I believe they will fail on the floor of the House, but if they come to the Senate I will vote against them," Atkinson said. "It's the wrong thing to do - raising taxes in a recession with high unemployment is the wrong thing to do." State Rep. Rob Patridge, R-Medford, did not return phone calls from the Mail Tribune on Wednesday. Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.