Deficits projected for next six years (WV) [View All]

[UpInArms]

http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2004021625/?pt=10

Lawmakers are struggling this session to cut state spending by more than $120 million, but those numbers will look like small change compared to state budget deficits expected over the next six years, according to projections released Monday.

A study prepared by the Legislative Auditor’s Office shows that, once lawmakers figure out how to fill a $111.3 million hole in the 2004-05 budget, they will come back next year needing to plug a $174.3 million hole in the 2005-06 budget.

That $174 million gap will seem like small potatoes for future Legislatures, with the funding deficit projected to grow to $259.1 million in fiscal 2006-07, $295.4 million in 2007-08, $318.5 million in 2008-09, and $373.1 million in 2009-10.

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“The numbers, we felt, were going to be difficult to live with,” Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, said afterward. “We didn’t realize it would really be as bad as it is.”

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the trickle down effects of the * fiscal policies in action