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Fiscal Feat

Legislators working to fund pay raises

Give West Virginia legislators credit for pulling off something of a fiscal feat on Monday and Tuesday. They managed to provide a 5 percent pay raise for state employees without a tax increase and without wrecking the state budget.

A 5 percent salary increase for all state employees costs real money, around $110 million a year. From where, exactly, will the funds come?

Some legislators were talking Tuesday of “spending cuts” to fund the pay raises. With rare exceptions, plans we have heard are no such thing. They are, instead, canceling initial plans for new spending.

Among initiatives to be cut are a $20 million plan to market the state to tourists, a $7 million project to provide free tuition at community and technical colleges, and some new spending by the Department of Commerce. In addition, some maintenance at state-owned buildings will be deferred.

Weeks ago, before the strike, Gov. Jim Justice submitted a proposed General Revenue Fund budget for the coming year. It totals $4.352 billion, about $127 million more than the current spending plan.

Then last week, the governor assured everyone his initial estimate of revenue that would be collected could be increased by $58 million. That would have taken his recommended budget to more than $4.4 billion.

Legislators were wise not to accept that $58 million promise. They took a different route, of approving the pay raises within the original $4.352 billion estimate.

That was prudent. But it still leaves next year’s budget $127 million higher than this one.

Where are the real spending cuts? We have heard few suggestions, except for deferred maintenance, of such a thing.

And deferring needed maintenance on state buildings is not cutting the waste and inefficiency out of government.

Legislators and Justice need to stop kowtowing to the bureaucracy — and sometimes to their own self political interests — and talk about genuine spending cuts.

•••

As it became apparent the strike by school personnel was over on Tuesday, Gov. Jim Justice suggested efforts should be made to ensure children do not have to attend classes any longer than absolutely necessary this spring.

Agreed.

But students have missed nine days of school because of the strike. That is an enormous amount of learning time.

Some school districts should be able to make up the lost days without holding classes deep into June. Some counties can cancel spring break to make up for more than half the days.

Others may not have that flexibility.

No doubt a variety of creative measures, perhaps including lengthening the school day, will be employed.

For school officials as well as teachers, the only concern ought to be ensuring students are in class enough to attain the year’s learning objectives.

No shortcuts should be taken in making that happen.

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