An editorial from The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register
WHEELING, W.Va. — What has happened in Charleston during the past few months is a crying shame, but not for the reason cited by some observers, including a few of those in the press.
Approval Tuesday of a new state budget by the West Virginia House of Delegates came less than three weeks before the new fiscal year will begin, on July 1. Not in recent memory have legislators and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin cut it that close.
As efforts to agree on a compromise spending plan got nearer and nearer to the end of the current fiscal year, some adopted a “sky is falling” attitude toward the process. Why, failure to adopt a budget before July 1 might mean a “government shutdown,” some moaned.
That played right into the hands of big-government liberals who have an aversion to worrying about Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer as well as a revulsion at the idea of reduced state spending. Spend less next year? Horrors!
But quite a few Mountain State residents have had to find ways to reduce spending, sometimes drastically. Lost jobs, higher costs of living and cutbacks at work have left many in our state no choice.
It appears spending cuts included in the budget approved this week are minimal. A $271 million “hole” in the budget will be closed with $98 million in higher taxes, $70 million from the emergency Rainy Day Fund and about $100 million in money “swept” from agency accounts.
Real spending discipline was avoided in large measure because of pressure to avoid that so-called “shutdown” – as unlikely as a total suspension of state services is.
That is the crying shame – once again, the primary means of keeping the budget in balance has been higher taxes, raiding the Rainy Day Fund and accounting gimmicks. West Virginians should resolve to not let it happen again next year.
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