By Phil Kabler, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Revenue Secretary Dave Hardy told legislators Monday he believes Gov. Jim Justice’s administration will be able to get through the 2019-20 budget year without having to make mid-year spending cuts.
“As of a couple of weeks ago, the end of November, there are no plans to do mid-year budget cuts,” Hardy told members of interim Joint Committee on Finance. The budget year lasts through June 30, 2020.
In October, in the face of revenue shortfalls through the first three months of the budget year, Justice told agency heads to come up with total spending cuts of $100 million.
Hardy said that, as of Monday, December revenue collection is running $9 million ahead of estimates — largely because tax payments due at the end of November carried over into the month, since state offices were closed for the long Thanksgiving weekend. He said that leaves the state with a $31 million budget shortfall, or less than 1 percent of a $4.7 billion general revenue budget. …
