CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The entire budgetary process in West Virginia “needs to be brought into the daylight,” according to Senate President Bill Cole (R-Mercer, 06), the Republican candidate for governor, who sees the potential for additional budget cuts in one specific area.
“I really believe the cuts must come with the executive branch. It is within the agencies of the executive branch and the governor is the only one that can lead that charge,” Cole said during an appearance on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
“Rome’s burning,” Cole was how he described West Virginia’s financial situation, one he would inherit in the New Year if elected in November.
“I wouldn’t be asking for the job if I wasn’t prepared to go do the heavy lift,” he said.
To this point in the fiscal year, state revenue collections are $80 million behind estimates.
The Tomblin Administration is already projecting a shortfall of $300 million for the next fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2017, six months after the new governor takes office.
During the last three years, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has overseen $400 million in spending reductions, primarily through across-the-board reductions.
Cole said such “machete” cuts “only work once.”
One of the main issues, Cole said, is that the hands of lawmakers are tied when it comes to the bulk of West Virginia’s roughly $4 billion budget.
“The problem is we deal with only the general revenue portion and there’s all these special revenue accounts, whether they come from the gas tax or they come lottery, wherever they come from and they are pointed directly to a program or an agency or a department,” Cole explained.
“The Legislature has no view of that.”
Cole’s “Talkline” appearance came three weeks before the Nov. 8 general election.
On Tuesday, Cole attended a forum for candidates in Princeton from the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce and the Princeton-Mercer Chamber of Commerce and spoke to members of the Beckley Rotary.
“I’m criss-crossing the state,” Cole said of his plans leading up to Election Day. “I’ll be from north to south, east to west, all the rest of this week. We’re just doing what we have to do. We’re getting in front of as many voters as we can.”
Early voting for the general election begins on Wednesday, Oct. 26.