Governor Jim Justice continues to be confident that the state will weather budget problems caused by the coronavirus crisis. In a briefing recently, he said, “I think we’re in better shape than we thought we were going to be.”
A recent Moody’s Analytics report didn’t paint such a rosy picture, and Senate Minority Leader Tim Miley (D-Harrison), is pessimistic over a federal bailout of the budget, saying: “I hope that comes to fruition, but I’m not holding my breath.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration, early in April, notified 10 percent of the state government workforce that paychecks would stop because of the pandemic’s effects on the budget. In West Virginia, Miley said the state’s reserves could help avoid that, but would leave little margin for problems in subsequent fiscal years.
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