More grim news on Virginia’s cash picture
Virginia's cash picture continues to darken.
The latest snapshot of state revenue collections shows that general fund collections dropped 7.5 percent in September compared with the same month a year ago.
On a year-to-date basis, total revenues are off 7.4 percent.
According to the Kaine administration, that drop trails the annual forecast of a 1.6 percent decline.
The revenue report, prepared by Secretary of Finance Richard D. "Ric" Brown, was shared this morning with the House Appropriations Committee.
The report paints a grim picture of the economy, noting "All major sources are trailing their forecasts through the first quarter of fiscal year 2010" -- that's the period for July through September.
Continuing erosion in the economy is forcing the state to again prune spending. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is cutting spending more than $1.2 billion. Those reductions come atop economies of nearly $6 billion since April 2007.
-- Jeff E. Schapiro
Reader Reactions
Tim Kaine should get most of the credit for this. He has not brought home the bacon from DC, not found any creative ways to invest in our State’s Transportation system. He has send VDOT workers home, stopped cutting the grass, and blighted our highways with closed rest rooms. He should be President!!!
I take exception to the fact that last year at this time we did not know what was coming. In February of 2008 Bush signed the first stimulus bill to give people $168 billion to spend. Now why did he and the congress do that I ask?
It was because we were then, 20 months ago, in a recession. It was also the same time governor Kaine gave an positive report on projected revenues for Virginia. He did that to get some of his socially oriented pet programs going.
And now that we are facing a cliff the pied piper is not talking about the more than 20 new programs he launched but rather cutting where people will feel it. Close the rest stops on the interstate. Stop highway improvements. Cut school funding. Cut colleges so students will have to borrow more.
Kaine got $35+ billion in federal stimulus money but Virginia is the 51st state in the percentage of the stimulus money we are spending on transportation. (and the TD like the Wash Post has not carried that story.)
Why not spend say $5 billion on transportation? It would create real jobs not social wellfare jobs and we might be better off with better infrastructure down the road.
Well the answer is that Kaine wants Virginian’s to feel the pain where he wants them to feel it.
Watch him when he talks…he is like Deeds in stumbling talk.
I see the comments “admirable” and “more efficient” related to the Va. Government. Does anyone consider VITA and their connection to Northrop Grumman admirable or efficient? I don’t.
The same month a year ago we didn’t know we were looking into the abyss. None of the fourth quarter 2008 layoffs had begun yet.
Another reminder that Virginia needs to adopt tax reforms that generate more stable sources of revenue, even if there is a modest increase in the tax burden. Conservatives have an automatic response to revenue shortfalls, they say we just need to cut out government waste. But where have they been for the past two decades? Virginia has done an admirable job of making government more efficient, and both parties deserve credit for that accomplishment. It is time for an honest debate about meeting responsibilities and sharing burdens. This year’s gubernatorial race falls short on that score.
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