Gov. Kaine: Budgetary spending cuts needed

Gov. Tim Kaine offered few specifics Wednesday but said additional spending cuts will be needed to address a $3.7 billion shortfall in the state budget.

Speaking on a conference call with the Bristol Herald Courier editorial board, Kaine said he and his team are continuing to work on the spending plan. The governor is scheduled to deliver his final biennial budget to the Virginia General Assembly next Friday.

“It’s going to be a very austere and tough budget. I think virtually anybody will look at it and see things they don’t like,” Kaine said.

“But my pledge has been to give the legislature a budget that will maintain the state’s AAA bond rating, maintain the core services Virginians need in tough times and that will continue to position Virginia at the leading edge of American states – so when we come out of the recession Virginia will be positioned at the front of the pack,” Kaine said.

Facing the worst recession in 60 years, Kaine last week said he will propose eliminating the “dealer discount,” a tax break merchants got for collecting and remitting the state retail sales tax. He also is considering reversing previous cuts to the car tax.

The governor, who leaves office in mid-January to focus on his new role as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has overseen a series of budget reductions since the national economy began slipping into a recession in late 2007. In the past two years, about $7 billion has been pared from the state plan.

“If it was just the matter of $3.7 billion out of an $80 billion budget by now that would seem like a pleasant task. But after we’ve already cut 7 [billion], it is very tough,” Kaine said. “I’m going to continue to do what I have done, which is look primarily to cuts to making things balance. But once we’re so deep into it, I’m also keeping revenue options on the table.”

The governor said he and his staff began developing this budget at the same time $1.5 billion in cuts was identified and announced in early September.
“We don’t do across the board [cuts],” Kaine said. “This is not a math exercise, it’s a judgment exercise. We go over every line item and every program, we have performance data that we use and we use our own judgments about cuts – and all the budgetary actions that we propose.”

People shouldn’t be surprised, Kaine said, that balancing this budget will mean impacting education.

“In the funding formula for K-12 education, we fund teachers pursuant to a ratio per student. We fund up to that ratio and, if the localities want to exceed that ratio, they do it on their own,” Kaine said. “I’m going to propose that [non-teaching] support personnel be subject to a funding ratio as well. If we use a ratio to fund teachers, we ought to use a ratio to fund support personnel.”

During the past 15 years, the number of support personnel statewide has increased substantially, compared to the number of teachers, Kaine said.

State Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, echoed Kaine’s prediction that this round of cuts will have widespread impact.

“Gov. Kaine will unveil his budget Dec. 18 and it will mean reduced spending,” Wampler said. “We hope the economy picks up, but like so many families we’re just going to have to tighten our belts.”

Wampler said the massive shortfall in the wake of a depressed national economy is no surprise.

“We’ve been telling the localities this day will come,” Wampler said. “K-12 education is the only category that has not experienced big reductions, but it may not escape this.”

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