Funding
Proposal cuts money for fairs and festivals
Gov. Jim Justice was elected in large measure because many West Virginians viewed him as the anti-political answer to our state’s problems. The billionaire businessman milked the “I am not a politician” mantra for all it was worth.
It turns out that Justice can operate as politically as anyone.
For many years, legislators have discussed whether the state should financially support special events such as fairs and festivals.
Funding for 425 fairs and festivals throughout the state was included in this year’s budget, but it was reduced by 10 percent from the previous year. A total of $1,668,297 was appropriated this year. Another $2,663,647 was provided in larger grants for various cultural purposes.
Some lawmakers believe the funding should be eliminated. Others do not, but the discussion has been on fiscal, not political, grounds.
Justice changed that this week. His budget proposal eliminates all fairs and festivals funding, along with the more than $2.6 million in other cultural support.
On Tuesday, his office issued a press release that was as thinly veiled a threat as we have seen in recent years. In the release, Justice “stressed that more than $4 million in cuts to the state’s fairs and festivals can be alleviated if the Legislature acts on his Save Our State (S.O.S.) plan.”
Justice’s S.O.S. proposal would have lawmakers appropriate more than $105 million for a vaguely defined economic development initiative. It would amount to a huge fund essentially at the governor’s disposal.
There simply is not enough money available to cover it — unless the Legislature goes along with Justice’s recommended tax increases. They total between $400 million and $450 million a year for the general revenue fund alone.
Go along with the tax increases, and the fairs and festivals money is restored, the governor is saying. Reject the new taxes, and, well, you can forget the funding. Explain that to the tens of thousands of voters who will be upset the state has eliminated funding for their special events.
Justice is holding the fairs and festivals money hostage, in effect.
And, his press release adds, if his tax increases are rejected, “cuts to fairs and festivals will be only the tip of the iceberg.”
Lawmakers are well aware of the state’s fiscal dilemma.
Neither Democrats nor Republicans in the Legislature should allow the governor to bully them into making the wrong choices on the budget