CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Time and money. It’s no secret both are needed to get the state anywhere near a balanced budget by the July deadline.
For that reason, some lawmakers are calling for approval of what is on the table.
“Let’s pass this budget without any tax increases. We know there’s not an appetite right now for tax increases,” Senator Kent Leonhardt said on MetroNews Talkline Tuesday at the start of a third week of budget discussions.
The House of Delegates agreed to a $4.088 billion spending plan that included $48 million in cuts, $48 million in account sweeps and $143 million from the rainy day fund.
The Senate met for less than an hour Tuesday before breaking until Wednesday morning when the finance committees will meet.
Monongalia County Delegates Joe Statler and Brian Kurcaba told WAJR radio in Morgantown to avoid a government shutdown, lawmakers need to compromise now and look for more cuts down the road including from agencies considered for sweeps of excess funds.
“It’s very difficult to go through 900 or so of those different coffers and make a good judgment call to places where we could cut dollars from. Time is the issue,” Kurcaba indicated.
Statler believes methodical cuts will have to be taken up to solve the $270 million dollar budget hole.
“There is still more money that can be gleamed from this. But, we are so close up on this that we still need to do more vetting because if you take an axe to the budget then you’re going to get an axe result. If you take a surgical knife, you’re going to get a much better product at the end.”
The governor has proposed a 1% sales tax increase. The House voted down a cigarette tax increase of 45 cents per pack last week and offered no amendments to raise revenue for the state.
Leonhardt seemed temporarily satisfied with a budget, with no new revenue sources, that keeps two major state expenditures intact.
“We can still come behind with additional revenue measures whether it’s cuts or tax increases later on. But, let’s give the citizens of West Virginia some certainty. Let’s make sure they know PEIA is going to be funded, make sure they know Promise Scholarships will be funding, all these things the governor threatened would be cut.”