Not to rain on any rainy day fund parade, but isn’t it just a little bit curious for Virginia to suddenly “find” all this extra money?
In December 2009, then governor, Democrat Tim Kaine, announced a “multibillion-dollar state revenue hole” that demanded speedy plugging. Just six months later, in mid-July, Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell said preliminary figures were showing the Commonwealth had actually found a $220 million surplus. And about a month after that, this fiscal 2010 budget surplus has grown to $400 million.
Wow. That’s some kind of savings. Now the big question, of course: What to do with all that cash?
“For the first time in nearly four years,” the Washington Post reported, on July 15th:
“Virginia state employees are going to get a pay boost. And after years of cuts so deep that teachers were laid off and highways went unrepaired, schools and roads are going to get millions in unexpected state cash.”
Pay raises and bonuses for government employees. That’s certainly one option for the money. The private sector, of course, hasn’t seen substantial wage and salary growth the past couple of years – but perhaps that’s a discussion for a different day. Virginia’s own haven’t seen a pay increase in years, and they’re probably worthy, not to mention due.
The real consideration, though, is one of truthfulness. With so much deficit-no-surplus-no-deficit-no-wait-a-minute-surplus talk floating around these past months, it’s hard for the average Joe and Jane to know what the budget balance really reads. Heck, even McDonnell says some people just “don’t understand math.” Maybe.
Or, maybe some people just can’t get a handle on why Virginia would report a surplus in the face of deferring $650 million of Virginia Retirement System payments. Or, why Virginia can report a surplus at the same time it accepted $2.5 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, in part, to close past and present budget gaps. Or, even why this surplus – if it really is a genuine surplus — wouldn’t go back to Virginia’s hard-working taxpayers, in the form of refunds.
After all, one way of regarding a government budget surplus is as evidence of an overtaxed citizenry. If this surplus really is an overabundance of unspent cash, then those who overpaid should be the ones who reap the benefit.
