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BUDGET SHORTFALLS COMING SOON TO WV COUNTIES - Retired Teacher, State And County Employees Lose Health Benefits After 2010 |
| (11/06/2009) |
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By Bob Weaver The impact of the recession continues in West Virginia and it doesn't appear the state's revenue collections will meet estimates this fiscal year. Recession watchers believe the impact of the recession on rural WV is yet to come. The Calhoun Commission is taking the downturn seriously, expecting revenue declines. The county has one of the smallest budgets in the state, maintaining low taxes. In Calhoun, a few thousand dollars added to a budget hole is big money. Severance tax revenues are 35 percent below what they were last year at this time, money upon which the county relied. Lottery revenues are down. Gov. Joe Manchin is yet to announce what measures will be taken to tighten the state budget, while asking all state agencies to review spending. West Virginia's Road Fund is collecting less revenue than expected and some maintenance projects will likely be postponed, mostly resurfacing. Transportation officials say revenue collections from vehicle registrations, the gasoline tax and the privilege tax paid on the purchase of vehicles are down by $10-$11 million, compared to the same period last year. It has been widely publicized that state teacher's, hired after July 1, 2010, will no longer have any healthcare options or benefits after retirement, but that change will also affect all county employees too, according to Patti Hamilton, executive director of the WV Association of Counties. Those options (benefits) have been to allow teachers and public employees to buy low cost coverage after retirement, and in some cases, to use unused sick days to purchase health coverage. While the health care issue is the subject of a Washington political battles, few government entities or private employers can afford to pay for health insurance, nor can working people pay the $10,000-$16,000 annual premiums required by private insurers. "We're going to end the year with a deficit, which we cannot have," said WV state Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow, indicating optimism is fading. "Some (national) folks have declared us out of the recession, but on the state revenue front things are still pretty bleak at the present time," Muchow said. Muchow says the $500 million Rainy Day Fund would be available along with a previous budget surplus to help get the state through. Calhoun's commissioners have put money in a Rainy Day Fund, only to find it depleted by unexpected expenses or state mandates.
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