Manchin: Budget picture bright

PARKERSBURG - The governor's office says West Virginia remains in good budget shape despite February's revenue collections were tens of millions off the mark.

"We've made mid-year budget adjustments already to plan for the estimated shortfall at the end of June 30 (the end of the fiscal year)," said Matt Turner, a spokesman for Gov. Joe Manchin.

Budget officers said the revenues were about $30 million short of the February general tax revenue forecast of $229 million, according to the preliminary budget numbers.

Sales and personal income taxes, two key revenue sources, keep missing projections, officials said. Severance taxes on extracted natural resources, such as coal, continue to beat expectations, but not by enough to offset those shortcomings, officials said.

State agencies have been asked to cut their budgets by about five percent.

The Legislature is expected to start working on the state's budget March 13.

Delegate Tom Azinger, R-Wood, said last year the Legislature delayed working on the budget for a month to get the first-quarter results to see where the economy was going.

Possible revenue shortfalls are something legislators are concerned with.

''It is the one thing everyone fears,'' he said.

Azinger has no idea now if there will be another delay this year to look at revenue projections in the first quarter. He feels with the number of cuts the state has implemented, the economic situation should be in good shape when legislators start going over the budget.

The budget news is a sign of the economic times.

It preceded an announcement from Workforce West Virginia that unemployment in January rose almost 2 percent from December to January to 10.5 percent. There were more than 15,000 new unemployed residents, the agency said.

Revenue-wise, Turner said the administration expected a rough February, citing the same timing issues that boosted January's revenues. They continue to warn that the budget year will end around $200 million shy of the $3.7 billion forecast.

"If we weren't keeping an eye on the economy and making adjustments now, then we would be forced to make more drastic reductions near the end of the year," Turner said.

For now, state tax collections remain ahead for the fiscal year, he said.

''We're not in budget trouble on the contrary, we are still in much better shape than almost any other state,'' Turner said.

''This is a one-month snapshot," he said. "You need to look at the entire year's projections for revenue to consider the $200 million projected shortfall."

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)