Let's see the Fruits of Jody Wagner's Budget Predictions

Governor Tim Kaine released his budget that was filled with several shortfalls. He actually projects that the budget will be down by $1.2 billion, in addition to $300 million in shortfalls from last year.

Meanwhile, the blame just doesn’t go to Kaine for his part to overestimate the budget. Former Secretary of Finance and Lieutenant Governor candidate, Jody Wagner, predicted more revenue than what was coming in. Wagner’s duties were simple, as she had to craft the budget and setting the revenue. During her tenure, the budget projections were over by 20 percent, the state debt grew significantly, and depleted the Rainy Day Fund. Talk about huge oversight. Is this who we want as Lieutenant Governor?

Bill Bolling has warned about the disastrous consequences that these budget projections would have on the Commonwealth’s economy.

“The budget shortfalls that Governor Kaine announced today are serious, but they should not surprise anyone. I have been warning for the past two years that the current state budget is based on overly optimistic revenue projections and that huge budget shortfalls would be the result. This is what happens when you base your budget on money you don’t have to make promises you can’t keep.“For the past four years we have based our budget on overly optimistic revenue projections, the use of one-time revenues to pay for ongoing programs, spiraling amounts of state debt and raids on the rainy day fund. That is not fiscally responsible and we cannot continue to manage Virginia’s finances this way.

“Unfortunately, the budget shortfalls we are facing in the current fiscal year may only be the beginning of our long term fiscal challenges. We will likely face additional budget shortfalls in the 2010-2012 biennium when the federal stimulus dollars we used to balance the budget last year run out. In fact, those shortfalls could be larger than the shortfalls we are experiencing in the current fiscal year.

“Going forward, we must make certain that our budgets are based on realistic revenue projections, reduce spending to match available revenue and eliminate the budget gimmicks. This will require us to make many difficult choices, but these are the same kind of choices that families and businesses have had to make in recent months, and the people of Virginia expect state government to live by the same economic realities that they must live by.”

The fruits of Jody Wagner’s budget projections are a bitter pill to swallow for Virginia.