

photo by: W.Va. Legislative Photography

West Virginia Senate Finance Committee Clerk Chris DeWitte, left, speaks Monday with Sen. Charles Clements, R-Wetzel.

CHARLESTON — The Senate Finance Committee signed off Monday on its edition of Gov. Jim Justice’s proposed budget for the next fiscal 12 months, with some adjustments, while retaining the ultimate price tag the similar as the governor’s.
Senate Monthly bill 250, the funds bill for fiscal year 2023 starting on July 1, was advised for passage Monday afternoon by the committee in a voice vote with no debate.
SB 250 maintains the identical total general revenue volume set by Justice in his spending budget presented to the Legislature on Jan. 12, the very first working day of the 60-day legislative session.
The governor’s spending plan and SB 250 set a budget for fiscal 12 months 2023 of $4.645 billion — a 1.4{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} increase from a revised revenue estimate of $4.579 billion for the present fiscal yr ending in June. It’s also a 3.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} enhance from the $4.495 billion fiscal yr 2022 budget authorized by the Legislature past 12 months.
The improve in both of those budgets is thanks to a proposed 5{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} pay out raise for point out employees and educators, which has a price of somewhere around $120 million. One more $41 million is essential for inmate health care care because of to court docket mandates and health care inflation.
While the remaining amounts are the exact, SB 250 tends to make improvements to the governor’s funds by reducing funding from some sections and raising funding in other spots.
SB 250 tends to make $9.4 million in reductions for Justice’s proposed spending budget. It decreases funding to the Teacher’s Retirement Assertion by $2.4 million and minimizes funding for teacher unfunded legal responsibility by $6.6 million. The Senate model of the spending plan also lowers funding slightly to West Virginia Point out College by $300,000, and cuts down the dollar amount of money to shell out for statements against the state by $7,126.
In its place, the Senate Finance Committee took that $9.4 million in reductions and utilized individuals money to make improvements in other regions of the price range. Of that amount of money, the Division of Tourism would get an additional $2 million for brand name marketing $1.2 million would go to the Department of Human Resources’ Division of Well being for sexual assault intervention $1 million would go to the Division of Normal Means for equine enrichment and $1.8 million would go to West Virginia State University for its land grant match and for its Healthful Grandfamilies method.
SB 250 also includes funding at the again of the spending plan, should really there be surplus tax revenue pounds available at the end of fiscal yr 2022 ending June 30. The 10 surplus merchandise have a $674.9 million cost tag and are arranged in order of precedence. Some of these contain: $50 million for the Division of Environmental Security $12.2 million for the Division of Administrative Companies $4 million for the Common Providers Division $4.2 million for the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The greatest total — $600.5 million — would go to the Office of Economic Advancement if surplus tax dollars are out there.
Year-to-day tax collections for the present fiscal year beginning in July 2021 were being $3.1 billion, which is 20.7{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} more than the $2.6 billion earnings estimate, giving the point out a $530.6 million surplus for the remaining five months of the fiscal 12 months 2022 ending in June.
That surplus tax collections quantity is expected to climb when February tax revenue numbers are released tomorrow. Some lawmakers consider the finish-of-calendar year tax income surplus could come close to $1 billion.
50 {1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of any funds surplus at the close of the fiscal calendar year goes into the Rainy Day Fund by statute, which is presently sitting at more than $1 billion. At minimum one bill — Senate Monthly bill 487 now in the Home of Delegates — would cap the Rainy Working day Fund and permit any remaining surplus to go into the typical revenue fund at the finish of a fiscal 12 months.







