Posted by
Rural Anorak on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 9:45:47 AM
Today's local news is reporting that the Commonwealth of Virginia is facing a $3 BILLION shortfall. The esteemed, yeah right, governor is citing economic conditions as the culprit for this shortfall. Maybe he should have thought of that before submitting the budget to the General Assembly for approval. The current biennial budget is only three months old and is facing this problem. Yes, Kaine is blaming the economy for the shortfall, but it may not be such a large number if he hadn't proposed a budget based on a 6% growth rate for the biennial period. True, Virginia has shown remarkable growth in the past, but as with all things, there comes a time of correction. The housing market was showing crack when this budget was proposed and passed. (And yes, the members of the General Assembly also share the blame for the mess.) When the, then, coming slow down was first glimpsed, the budget should have been reworked to accoutn for the possibility of a revenue down turn. The problem is that there were too many pet projects that became "sacred" and weren't cut, and these bloated the budget, while important issues, such as roads and infrastructure, took it on the chin.
Now, Kaine is calling for all state agencies to submit revisions to their operating budgets with 5%, 10% and 15% cuts in order to correct the shortfall. If the 10% or 15% cuts are implemented, that means layoffs. So Kaine is going to "fix" the shortfall by putting people out of work, thereby putting pressure on their abilities to pay for goods and services, which means the tax revenue from sales tax will decline as people cut their own spending, which leads to lower state revenues and on and on and on. Yes, I know that is a simplistic example, but the point is that the budget as written was a sham and now individuals and families will have to pay the price for the imcompetence of the governor and his advisors.