Legislators solved last year’s budget crisis primarily with one-time fixes like money from the Rainy Day Fund. While they did raise the tobacco tax, that was not enough to permanently fix the problem. With revenues continuing to come in below projections, it’s likely to be a déjà vu budget situation during the 2017 Legislative Session.
In the last two issues of Budget Beat we’ve presented recommendations on how to fill the budget gap. But how did we get into this annual situation? Here’s the explanation from WVCBP staff in this week’s Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram on the path policymakers have taken to create year after year of budget shortfalls.
With another large budget gap to fill, here are the price tags on some of the choices that legislators might consider if additional revenue is not raised.
Immediate Past WVCBP Vice President Karen Kunz, Associate Professor at West Virginia University, led the national conversation on infrastructure investment recently on National Public Radio’s Marketplace.
With the eye-catching title “Presidential Candidates at Least Agree on One Thing,” the piece cited the growing need, and price tag, to maintain the nation’s vital roads and highways.
Our colleagues at the West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families Coalition have released a comprehensive voter guide to help West Virginians make choices before heading to the polls on November 8 (or sooner with early voting).
The guide is a compilation of answers to a non-partisan questionnaire. Sign up here to receive a copy and find out how candidates stand on the issues that are important to you like school funding, higher education, and substance abuse.
In Martinsburg on Tuesday, October 25 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm in the HSC Auditorium at WVU-Martinsburg.
