The impact of the recession continues in West Virginia and it doesn't appear the state's revenue collections with meet estimates this fiscal year.
"We're going to end the year with a deficit, which we cannot have," state Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow told MetroNews Monday. "So we'll have to take some corrective action down the road. At the present time it does not look like collections are going to meet estimates this year."
Muchow says personal income tax and sales tax collections continue to decrease. He says employment has gone down more than expected. He says good-paying jobs in manufacturing; mining and construction have been cut.
Revenues could miss estimates by $100 million.
"Some (national) folks have declared us out of the recession, but on the state revenue front things are still pretty bleak at the present time," Muchow said.
Severance tax revenues are 35 percent below what they were last year at this time. Muchow says lottery revenues are down too and the state Road Fund is suffering because of lower motor vehicle sales tax collections.
By law, the state cannot have a budget deficit so Governor Joe Manchin and state lawmakers will have to decide what to cut on where to get more money to meet the deficit.
Muchow says the recession will impact West Virginia for several more months. "We need to have a pick-up in economic growth and it looks like it's coming more slowly and a little bit later than was anticipated. Plus the downturn was a little sharper than anticipated," Muchow said.
Muchow says the $500 million Rainy Day Fund would be available along with a previous budget surplus and money from the federal economic stimulus package. There also could be mid-year state budget cuts, something that hasn't happened since the Wise administration.
Jeff Jenkins Reports: State Revenues Fall Short 
