CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — State Police civilian employees and West Virginia's Racing Commission are among those who can expect less funding in the new state budget.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin applied his line-item veto power Wednesday to shave $13.5 million from the $11.6 billion spending plan before signing it. The Democrat also scaled back increases approved by lawmakers for rape crisis centers, health care clinics and substance abuse programs. The new budget year begins July 1.
The bulk of the cuts, around $9.9 million, reflect a revised estimate of how much the state must put toward the main pension fund for teachers. Improved investment earnings means the Teachers Retirement System needs less from the new state budget as it gradually closes a multibillion-dollar funding liability.
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Tomblin reduced pay and benefit raises for State Police civilian employees by $1.05 million, to $250,000, citing concerns about permanently increasing spending on wages and salaries.
The governor also cut funding for expenses at the Racing Commission nearly in half, by $696,800 to $557,364. Tomblin deleted all $510,000 budgeted for equipment at the state Contractor Licensing Board. The governor noted that the equipment is for a program not administered by the board.
Tomblin cited projected decreases in lottery proceeds in reducing revenues from that source for the Development Office by $410,000, to $400,000.
Wednesday's veto message also applied cuts of $250,000 each to three different areas of the budget. The cuts reduced funding for Health Right clinics to $4.7 million, rape crisis programs to $250,000 and expenses at the Development Office to $3.1 million.
The last line-item veto cuts money budgeted for the "One Voice" drug abuse program to $100,000. Tomblin wrote that this program should be considered by the Governor's Advisory Council on Substance Abuse.
Tomblin also reduced funding for a slated "Healthy Choices" television program for children by $150,000, to $100,000. The TV program is to be produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and the state's School of Osteopathic Medicine. The governor wrote that the funding would have strained resources now dedicated to existing culture and history programs.
Other line-item vetoes delete a Higher Education Grant fund transfer that wasn't in the budget, language that would have earmarked Development Office funds for administrative purposes and a provision that Tomblin said would have changed the intent of funding meant for nationally certified teachers. Tomblin also deleted language that he said mislabeled the source of funding for the Comprehensive Substance Abuse Strategic Action Plan.
Several of the 15 objections invoked economic uncertainty nationally to conclude the state must keep permanent budget increases to a minimum.
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