Republican Virginia senators are concerned that Gov. Tim Kaine’s projected $2.5 billion shortfall through fiscal 2010 is too optimistic, with some predicting a figure of as high as $3.2 billion.
Senators discussed the state’s budget woes in a private meeting with business leaders before a Senate Finance Committee meeting in Richmond Thursday morning, said J. Scott Leake, executive director of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.
During the meeting, state Finance Secretary Richard Brown presented a summary of Kaine’s cuts and where they would leave the state’s budget in the coming years.
“[Fiscal] 2009 was the critical checkpoint because a quarter’s gone,” he said. “The 2010 year hasn’t started — we’ll do whatever the General Assembly wants to do in 2010.”
The national financial crisis has pushed the projected budget shortfall higher than Kaine’s estimated $2.5 billion, said Sen. Walter A. Stosch (R-Henrico County), Republican leader emeritus of the committee, and noted that Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Colgan (D-Prince William County) suggested the figure could be closer to $3.1 billion or $3.2 billion over the next two years.
Measures in Kaine’s plan include $192.9 million in agency reductions, an $86.1 million cut to colleges, and a deferral of a December salary increase to July 2009, totaling $44.7 million.
“The sentiments of the committee members are that there need to be more cuts,” Stosch said. “Everyone’s concerned — nobody wants to take on the responsibility.”
Leake said Senate Republicans had been voicing their concerns about Kaine’s budget since December.
“I don’t have a crystal ball. None of us know precisely how much our economy will slide and we don’t know when it will turn around. But I do believe I can see the handwriting on the wall: If we’re not careful we’ll be back here next year — or maybe sooner — making major cuts to this budget,” said Sen. William C. Wampler (R-Wise County).
“Today was more of a validation of the problem,” Leake said.
Stosch said the tone of the meeting was “not partisan,” but “one of shared concern and the belief that we need to cut more.”
“This is not fat, and is more than just dollars and cents,” he said, noting that essential programs — such as public safety — were taking huge hits.
“If something changes in the national outlook that warrants another cut, [the committee] could be called back to look at it,” Brown said. “That will depend on future events.”
