West Virginia (WTRF) – Jim Justice (R), West Virginia’s former governor and current U.S. Senator, claims his administration left more than $2 billion in “different buckets.”
However, the Mountain State’s newest Governor recently revealed a significant deficit in the state budget.
Governor Patrick Morrisey stated that his administration is inheriting a $400 million deficit that is expected to grow “in the out years.”
“The era of big spending is over. It’s over in West Virginia. I announced a series of executive orders to address our state spending and to begin better driving economic growth to lift our economy up so we’re no longer 48, 49, 50 in the economic ranking.”
Governor Patrick Morrisey | (R) WV
“We don’t need to be doom and gloom in West Virginia,” Senator Justice stated. “We are American. We are West Virginians. We just need to buckle up and get to work. But there is so much good going on in West Virginia right now, it would be difficult to turn it off.”
When asked about Governor Morrisey’s recent executive orders, Senator Justice stated that he “hasn’t been watching that closely,” but believes he “left the state in a tremendous position.”
“We left over $2 billion in absolutely different buckets, whether it be rainy day funds or personal income tax funds or the Governor’s Contingency fund. I mean, we left hundreds of millions of dollars of restricted dollars in the Governor’s Contingency fund and about 70 unrestricted. And when I walked in the door, we had $9.5 million of unrestricted money. You know, really and truly, we left the state in terrific shape and we’re really proud of that.”
Senator Jim Justice | (R) WV
According to Governor Morrisey, budget challenges have had an impact on Medicaid, educational costs, PEIA, and other programs.
He stated that solutions to budgeting problems will become clearer once the new budget is submitted in a month.
