PULASKI COUNTY, Va. – Pulaski County leaders recently approved the county’s $157 million budget.
“The county is excited to have adopted its budget,” Pulaski County Administrator Jonathan Sweet said.
Sweet said the finance department worked diligently to make sure hot ticket items like education and pay raises for staff remained a top priority.
But, he says the task wasn’t easy, since Pulaski County leaders still do not know how much money they are getting from the state.
“We put together a county budget that isn’t relying on the state,” Sweet said. “Hopefully, the state will able to come to some compromise and adopt a budget.
Virginia Tech Political Science Professor, Dr. Karen Hult says Virginia is one of the few states that operates on a biennial budget, meaning the state comes up with a budget every two years.
“We’re not in any risk of a government shut down, that’s not what going on here,” Dr. Hult said.
State leaders can amend budgets or pass legislation in a “skinny budget.”
“And that basically means that things would be going on as they were under the passed budget with some additional appropriations and some additional restrictions,” Dr. Hult said.
Experts believe party disagreements are why Virginia couldn’t move forward with a final budget.
“Governor Youngkin was strong saying he wants to see some serious tax cuts many in the Democratic Senate and some Republicans said we don’t disagree with that entirely, but we’re concerned about a recession coming and a slowdown in revenue,” she said.
While state leaders wait until finalizing a budget, local leaders are making do in the meantime.
“We shouldn’t be padding our budget based on what we think the state is going to do, we have no bloody idea,” Sweet said.