Letter to the Editor: What is the budget truth?
Trending
Do we now and have previously had a surplus in our State revenue? I have read that the governor says that we have had a billion-plus-dollar surplus for the last two or three years. Then I read that West Virginia University has a budget shortage of $45 million and is required to eliminate language courses and the entire language department, cut the library budget, cut salary positions and make other cuts. Also, our state agencies such as our correctional institutions were only 50% staffed or under staffed. Who is responsible for these situations? Is it too much for our leaders to be transparent and give us the facts? Would someone please tell us in plain English what are the facts and for our leaders to be truly transparent regardless of who it helps or hurts?
If there is a surplus then what has been done with it? It evidently is not being used to solve the state budgetary shortages. The governor proposes a budget. Is he under budgeting? So is the Legislature cutting his budget and is it the fault of both of them? Is the surplus simply placed in the "rainy day fund?" I think I have read that the "rainy day fund" amounts to a billion dollars or approximately that much. Do we need such a large fund? Should we not be using the surplus to solve our shortages and make our state more desirable for our citizens and for state development and particularly for industrial development?
I think we particularly need to ask who is responsible for the chaos at WVU. Is it the university president, the Board of Governors, the governor, the legislature, or who?
Also, I believe at the previous four years election we approved a billion-dollar road bond issue. Have all the bonds been sold? What is left if any? What have the funds been used for? Have they been used exclusively for paving and repairs? Have they been used to build any new highways? If so, what are the highways?
I believe that the citizens of this state should have a clear, unequivocal yes or no whether there have been surpluses and if so, how much and what has been done with them. If there have been surpluses then why have we hid the situation at WVU and at our penal institutions?
We need answers free and clear of politics.
Robert A. Friend
Vienna