CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History is sticking up for the arts after a conservative group released a report last week that said taxpayers wasted $330 million out of a $4.6 billion budget in 2015.
“I think there was a lot of misinformation in that report,” Randall Reid-Smith told members of the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.
The Wild & Wasteful West Virginia report, written by the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, looked at wasteful spending in nearly 60 different state programs including fairs and festivals.
Taxpayers pay about $53,000 for the Mountain State Forest Festival, $43,000 for the West Virginia State Fair, $25,000 for the Italian Heritage Festival, $25,000 for the West Virginia Strawberry Festival and more the report read, but Reid-Smith said all of that money is a very small investment.
“Fairs and festivals are one of the best investments you can put into your communities because you see such a huge return on investment,” he said. “The report — I don’t even want to talk about it because I don’t want to give credence to it.”
The festivals are included in the “Arts & Culture” section of the 54-page booklet.
Garrett Ballengee, executive director of the Cardinal Institute, previously told MetroNews although the arts are important to the state, it’s not a core government function. He said, “a core government function is making sure that the public is safe.”
Reid-Smith argued that funding the arts is needed to improve society.
“It gives you somewhere to take people, to entertain them, to get them to come and do business in our communities. It’s essential,” he said.
Also, he said state fairs and festivals really hit home for thousands of residents.
“Most of those art forms started in West Virginia. It’s more than just art. It’s who we are and it advertises who we are,” Reid-Smith said.
In a meeting between Reid-Smith and the Senate Finance Committee, he said members wanted to know why more money currently goes to smaller fairs with less people compared to large and more populated fairs who don’t receive as much funding.
“They talked about looking at that disparity, which I think is great,” he said.
Other areas of the report include government regulations, corporate welfare, recreation, education and child and elderly services.