The House of Delegates has passed a $4.6 billion budget that differs from what Gov. Jim Justice proposed and a version the state Senate has on deck for passage.
All versions of the budget include the average 5 percent pay raise for state employees that leaders promised before the legislative session began.
Delegate Marty Gearheart, R-Mercer, urged his fellow lawmakers to continue being careful about spending, particularly if the state continues to generate surpluses over the next several months. “Wonderful job on the budget, and the governor has submitted a good budget to us,” he said.
Delegate Larry Rowe, D-Kanawha, also praised the work on the budget. “I think this budget is good and solid. We’re not cutting programs. We’re funding them, and we’re going forward,” he said.
The biggest difference in the version delegates are considering is a $96 million personal income tax reduction that reflects a bill already passed by the House. The House budget accounts for that money by shifting anticipated surplus.
So far, counterparts in the state Senate have not shown signs of interest in passing that income tax cut this year.
The state Senate passed its version of the budget on Friday. That version differs just slightly from what Governor Justice proposed.
“This is a starting point for the final product that will be a combination of both the Senate’s and the House’s proposed budgets,” Senate Finance Chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said while explaining the budget bill late last week.
Senators will need to vote on the budget again once differences are worked out with the House of Delegates. Technically, what the House did was to amend its version of the budget into the Senate’s bill.
Delegate Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, urged a better, more straightforward way to consider the budget in the future.
“I hope moving forward we can find a better way to do the budget so the House doesn’t spend a lot of time doing one, the Senate doesn’t spend a lot of time doing one and then we come together and all fight at the end,” Young said. “I just wish there was a better way to do this.”
Justice proposed a generally flat, $4.6 billion general revenue budget — with the significant exception of an average 5 percent pay raise for state workers.
“For the fourth year in a row, I am proposing an essentially flat budget, which includes a third historic pay raise and Inflatocine for our state employees,” Justice said in his State of the State address, referring to his term for an employee bonus that he meant to serve as a sort of vaccine for the effects of inflation.
Lawmakers have not taken up legislation reflecting that Inflatocine incentive.