Beckley Register-Herald – As officials in Charleston grapple with how to tackle West Virginia’s $354 million budget shortfall, due largely to less than expected severance tax collections, states facing similar financial gaps are using other ways to shore up their finances. Read
Nearly one out of every seven dollars going into West Virginia’s coffers comes from the state’s energy sector. With the coal industry and the oil and natural gas sector struggling, West Virginia had a historic low in its total tax collections last year.
Coal production dropped by a seventh and natural gas prices were at historic lows, the Energy Information Agency reported.
In October, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin slashed 4 percent from the budget of state agencies, cut staff Christmas parties and cut 1 percent of state funding to local schools.
