CHARLESTON– West Virginia’s two top lawmakers unveiled the legislature’s budget proposal Monday that they said avoids the tax increases recommended by Gov. Jim Justice and attempts to get a handle on the state’s money woes by controlling government spending.
The plan revealed by House Speaker Tim Armstead and Senate President Mitch Carmichael is for a $4.05 billion budget compared to the $4.5 billion budget recommended by Justice. Lawmakers’ version also is without the $450 million in tax increases proposed by the governor.
To balance the budget, lawmakers are proposing the following changes to Justice’s budget bill: elimination of the “Save Our State” fund, saving $105.5 million, not including Justice’s proposed 2-percent teacher pay increase, saving $21 million, foregoing justice’s $5.6 million tourism advertising increase and more.
The governor released a statement in response to this budget saying,
