CHARLESTON, W.Va. — New West Virginia Revenue Secretary Dave Hardy says it will take a team effort to fix the state’s budget problems.
In a video, released Monday afternoon on the @WVGovernor Twitter handle, Hardy explained the state’s current financial crisis.
“We have until June 30 to come up with $128 million to close a gap in this year’s budget,” Hardy said. “At the same time, we have to find nearly half a billion dollars for the 2018 budget. We have a big job ahead of us.”
Hardy said the state is “in a budget crisis like we have not seen since the Great Depression.”
In September 2015, he said, coal, oil and gas industries nationwide experienced a drop in energy prices. The state’s severance tax base took “an unbelievable hit,” he said.
On Monday, Nick Casey, Justice’s chief of staff, said the Governor could propose state budget cuts of more than $390 million to as much as $606 million to fill the fill the current deficit projected at $500 million for Fiscal Year 2018.
Hardy said in the video Justice plans to work with state lawmakers to close the budget gap.
“Governor Justice is committed to doing the responsible thing for our tax payers, for our families and for our future generations including your children and mine,” he said.
Justice will present his budget proposals to the state Legislature during his State of the State Address on Feb. 8 when the 2017 Regular Legislative Session resumes.