CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Republican leaders in the state Senate and House of Delegates said Monday they will oppose Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s plan to use money from the rainy day fund to balance next year’s budget.
In September, the governor announced his plan to draw $100 million from the state’s emergency fund as part of the fiscal year 2016 budget, which will be presented in January.
Sen. Bill Cole, R-Mercer, who will be elected Senate President in January, said Monday he already has told Tomblin Republicans will oppose any move to use rainy day funds to balance the budget.
“I’ve met with the governor and I’ve told him we will resist him dipping into the rainy day fund,” Cole said. “It’s there for rainy days. It’s there as a last resort. I don’t want to make this a last resort.”
Cole said he believes there are areas of government that can be reduced and savings found in other areas of the budget which would make the use of emergency funds unnecessary.
“I think there are other opportunities that we have out there,” he said. “We can go in and take a little more critical view of things that are going on and hopefully we can find waste enough to bring the budget together.”
Del. Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, who will be elected Speaker of the House in January, said officials believe budget cuts and other savings opportunities can be found to reduce the more than $100 million deficit.
“We would rather look in that direction than continue to raid the rainy day fund. That is not what it was meant for,” Armstead said. “We had concerns about doing that last year and we continue to have concerns.”
Cole said he hopes to work with Tomblin to draft a balanced budget, but said he will not budge on the rainy day fund.
“I want to work with the governor to put a good budget forward,” Cole said. “I just don’t want to dip into the rainy day fund. I will fight that as hard as I can.”
Tomblin could not be reached for comment Monday.
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