Resolving Budget Cuts and Growing Budgets: The Case of West Virginia

Abstract

West Virginia governors ordered experienced mid-year or next-year budget reductions (or both) from FY2002 to FY2006. The state used most of the general budget cutting techniques to achieve these cuts. General fund spending, however, increased 13.2 percent over the same period. Likewise, most spending categories experienced double-digit percentage increases over the period. Only once did spending actually drop from one year to the next. Instead, it appears that spending shifted because of requirements and priority changes, creating winners and losers.

Keywords:

• budget
• cutbacks
• West Virginia
• expenditures

Notes

This article draws upon three previous papers or presentations (Dougherty, 2003; Dougherty & Klase, 2003; Dougherty, 2005).

West Virginia Governor. (2003). “State of the State Message.”

West Virginia Governor. (2003). “State of the State Message.”