West
Virginia Revenue Secretary Bob Kiss said Thursday it’s time to apply some
medicine to the state’s revenue ills.
December
revenue collections missed estimates once again putting the state $66 million
behind estimates through the first six months of the fiscal year.
“It
is time to start taking some action and I think you’ll see that action in the
next several days,” Kiss said.
Gov.
Earl Ray Tomblin, Kiss, the budget staff and others have been reviewing
options. Kiss said they have a plan to deal with a $70 million shortfall. He
said the tools are familiar ones.
“There
could be mid-year budget cuts. They can take the form of the elimination of a
capital expenditure that maybe doesn’t need to be done this year. It can be
deferred. Also hiring freezes,” Kiss suggested.
Revenues
from personal income tax and consumer sales tax continue to be behind where the
state thought they would be this budget year. Kiss said there are some signs
the economy is beginning to takes steps forward but they need more evidence.
“We
need to see that for several months in a row and it’s right now a delicate
situation,” he said. “We’re watching it and trying to decide what medicine to
apply. Clearly, we’ve come to the conclusion that medicine needs to be applied.
We don’t want to apply too much medicine or too little,” he said.
Leading
lawmakers have also been involved in the budget discussions according to Kiss.
