CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The go-to guy for the state budget is heading to a new agency.
Mike McKown, longtime director of West Virginia’s State Budget Office, will now be the deputy state auditor for budget analysis. The position is in Auditor J.B. McCuskey’s office.
McKown had been the state budget director since 2006. He is often teamed with deputy revenue secretary Mark Muchow, a partnership that earned the pair an affectionate but darkly-humored nickname, “Doom and Gloom.”
McKown’s state government career stretches back to 1981 and across five different agencies.
McKown will join the state Auditor’s Office staff on July 21.
“Mike McKown has worked in state government, more than 35 years, for five different state agencies, and brings an abundance of institutional knowledge to our office,” McCuskey stated in an announcement.
“His work on budget analysis for the Legislature, and various cabinet divisions, makes him the perfect fit in our office for analyzing and improving the most accurate data access in real time.”
Earlier this year, McCuskey unveiled a new transparency website that provides the public with access to spending and revenue of state government. The Auditor’s Office is now working on expanding the website to all 55 counties in the state.
In his new role with the Auditor’s Office, McKown will assist McCuskey to ensure transparency and independence in the state’s budgeting and spending.
“I’m grateful to Auditor McCuskey for this opportunity to further serve the people of my home
state,” McKown stated.
“We’ve experienced financial highs and lows in West Virginia, and it’s important to all of us that transparency always remains our common goal. The citizens deserve to know where their taxpayer dollars are being spent.”