For the first time in years, state
agency heads are not having to start work on their proposed budgets for the
next fiscal year — FY2016 — by taking a big chunk right off the top.
“We are not requesting an
across-the-board 7.5 percent cut like we have over the last two years,” Charlie
Lorensen, chief of staff for Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s Administration, said
on Wednesday.
He admitted the state’s budget,
though, is expected to again be tight when the new fiscal year begins next
July. That’s why, Lorensen said, it will still be important for agencies to
continue to find ways to operate more efficiently.
“We’re early on in that cycle. We
have a lot of options on the table, but we are meeting regularly and pushing
regularly to try to determine whether programs can be reduced, whether funding
shifts can occur,” Lorensen said.
A general state hiring freeze is
still in effect. At the same time, some state employees who are retiring or
resigning are not being replaced.
“Frankly, we really do appreciate
state employees and the leadership of the agencies that have accommodated what
is, in effect, a little bit more than a 15 percent cut over the last two
years,” Lorensen said.
Safety net health care programs and education have largely been
exempt from the past two years of budget cuts.
