CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two state senators say now is the time to take a closer look at the state budget and reshape it to meet the needs of West Virginians.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric Tarr. R-Putnam, and reelected Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, said the election of state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey as governor creates that opportunity.
“I think Patrick is really going to be looking at the services of government, what government should be doing, what it shouldn’t be doing and rightsizing that some,” Tarr said recently on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Rucker, who was reelected to a third four-year term last week, said it’s time to streamline government to make it more efficient and more responsive.
“So that the government that we have is doing its job to the best possible ability,” Rucker said. “There is no reason that in a small state like ours that we can’t do a better job responding to the need of our constituents.”
Morrisey said during a gubernatorial debate late last month that auditing the state’s finances would be a top priority early in his administration.
“Look, one of the things that I plan to do when I become governor is do an audit and review of literally every agency and every program. And I think we need to look at the cost structure of how much everything costs the performance of all of the agencies that are operating under the state to look at ways we can become more efficient and become more politically accountable,” Morrisey said.
During his election night victory speech, Morrisey said his administration would “fight to lift up your standard of living” while “we maintain West Virginia conservative values.”
Many governors have launched efforts to review spending and set up things like Blue Ribbon groups to set priorities but the success of such efforts can be debated. Tarr said he believes there are places to cut in the current spending.
“Governor Justice. he really focused on the things that primarily had his interest and kept his attention which left a lot of other things neglected and I think those things that were neglected leave a lot of opportunity for the next governor coming in to do a lot of corrections,” Tarr said.
Rucker said for whatever the reason the real rightsizing has not occurred since Republicans have been in control of the legislature. She said the covid pandemic created a roadblock but now the way is clear and it’s time to act.
“We’re past those things now and I think this is the appropriate time with Republicans in control and a governor that’s a Republican that we can work together to prioritize things that just haven’t happened,” Rucker said.
Can much be done with the state’s revenue collections trailing estimates by about $15 million after the four months of the fiscal year?
Tarr said he’s not pushing the panic button.
“It doesn’t concern me greatly because I think we’ve been pretty good stewards about the rate of tax breaks which we’ve done,” Tarr said. “We’ve returned a billion dollars in taxes to the people of West Virginia and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”