CHARLESTON, W.Va. — During his final speech as West Virginia’s governor, Earl Ray Tomblin proposed raising an additional $270 million to balance the state budget by raising the consumer sales tax by 1 percent and eliminating a tax exemption on telecommunications.
That was just a suggestion, though, because Tomblin is in the very last days of his administration.
By Monday morning, Democrat Jim Justice will be West Virginia’s new governor. It’s clear the new administration and the Legislature will be facing an enormous budget gap, but it’s less clear how they’ll deal with it.
During the campaign, Justice said repeatedly that West Virginians already face too much tax burden. He also expressed reluctance to institute more across-the-board cuts. His stated preference is economic growth that would increase the tax base, but that would have to be accomplished by mid-April if it’s to happen during the regular legislative session.
On Thursday afternoon, asked whether Justice would consider the tax proposal just laid out by Tomblin, new chief of staff Nick Casey said the incoming administration will need flexibility. He recognized that the Legislature and its Republican majorities would prefer cutting expenses.
“I’m an old CPA. There’s two sides of every financial statement. There’s revenue and there’s expenses. The Legislature struggled with the expense side last year for an extended session,” Casey said after an appearance with Tomblin in the governor’s reception room.
“There are ways. You can make adjustments downward and reduce your costs and not affect your revenue. You can also increase your revenues and cover your expenses. That’s a call that we’re working on now as we head into the budget. But we recognize there’s a certain preference from the Legislature that they’d like to see cuts. Cuts are necessary. We’ll have to do that to give them something to look at.”
Appearing Thursday on “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval, Senate Finance Chairman Mike Hall said the proposal put forth by Tomblin on Wednesday rang familiar.
“Last year, the governor put the same proposal on the table, and it didn’t advance,” said Hall, R-Putnam. “At least for now, the way I read the mood of the Legislature, it’s even worse for that proposal than it was last year.”
Hall said he’d like to get the budget under control within the first 30 days of the session.
“This year I’ve already started with the new Finance Committee, and we’ve broken down the budget into major areas,” Hall said today.
“If we’re going to be serious about a structured budget then we’re going to have to get the spending of government down to the level of the revenue. That may be painful, but at least the first part — by 30th day I want to be able to say to the Senate and to the public, ‘Here are the expenditures. We’ve looked, we’ve scrubbed and we’ve decided certain things shouldn’t be any more. This is the barest that we can get to.'”
The new governor will be officially sworn in at 12:01 a.m. Monday, ahead of the 1 p.m. inauguration ceremony at the state Capitol.
Casey said Justice is excited to get started.
“The governor-elect remains as he always is,” Casey said, “not just optimistic but driven in a positive way. He is chaffing at the bit to go forward with his responsibilities as governor. He recognizes what needs to be done and he wants to prove his best to make it happen so he is very excited, very very excited.”
Justice has named most of his cabinet, replacing all of Tomblin’s cabinet secretaries. The administration has named Kanawha County Commissioner Dave Hardy as revenue secretary, health care consultant Bill Crouch as secretary for health and human resources, Army veteran Dennis Davis as secretary for veterans assistance, businessman Woody Thrasher as secretary of commerce and Wood County Sheriff Jeff Sandy as secretary for military affairs and public safety.
So of the cabinet secretary positions, that leaves Department of Administration, Department of Education and the Arts, Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Transportation still remaining to have their new leaders named.
“The transition is going well,” Casey said. “We’re very pleased with the folks who’ve been named as our secretaries. We have more to come as the week goes on. There are some folks from different backgrounds than you sometimes see, so the process of finding them, persuading them and then inducing them to come on takes a good bit of time.”
“It’s like a merry-go-round. Everything’s very positive. The lights are bright it seems to be going well. It’s just going a little fast, but that’s good. It will spin into effect. Next week, we’ll be rolling.
Some personnel matters at the administration’s lower levels are also taking shape, Casey said. He said the shape of the administration’s staffing could evolve as priorities are determined.
“We haven’t gotten into personnel things of any great deal yet,” Casey said. “It’s a new administration and Jim is very much a businessman. Government is not a business, but there are some business principles that lend themselves to any organization.We’re working through those. That may be some of the things you’re hearing about as we work through those. There will probably be more to hear about that as we go forward. It’s a process we’re into, but it’s not finished yet.”