On Monday, Patrick Morrisey stood on the steps of the Capitol — one hand on a bible, the other in the air — and took the oath of office as West Virginia’s 37th governor.
After the pomp and circumstance, Morrisey is going to face some difficult decisions.
He inherits a state government budget crunch created by income tax cuts pushed through by his predecessor and fellow Republicans.
“We have to find money to pay for the tax cuts,” Morrisey said.
Morrisey’s plan: Belt-tightening. Finding any way to save money. Doing more with less.
But he will take over a state where residents and communities have urgent needs — drug treatment beds closer to home, help to pay for expensive child care, well-paying jobs in a state going through a major economic transition.
In interviews around the state, West Virginians have said they want a government that is more responsive and improves their lives.
But Morrisey plans to double down on tax cuts. Before he’s figured out how to pay for the last round of them, he’s already talking about pushing for more.
Morrisey campaigned on phasing out the personal income tax, which makes up about a third of state revenue.
“I’m eager to have deep tax cuts,” he said.
A new governor, same message
In 2017, then newly-elected Gov. Jim Justice faced a looming budget shortfall of over $100 million. And he wasn’t happy with what officials and lawmakers did before he got into office.
“Powerful people in positions of responsibility kept kicking the can down the road,” he said in a press release at the time.
As he tells the story today, he turned the ship around by betting on West Virginia and finding economic prosperity. In recent years, the state has enjoyed large budget surpluses fueled by a flood of federal dollars in pandemic relief, and soaring energy prices that led to high severance tax revenue.
“In one year alone, we had surpluses of $1.8 billion plus,” Justice said in a video released earlier this month with his administration’s final revenue report. “Now with all that, we’ve been able to cut taxes and cut taxes and cut taxes.”
But the same day as Justice’s rosy budget report, the man taking his place told a different story.
“We have some budgeting challenges ahead,” said Governor-Elect Morrisey in the library of the Attorney General’s office in Charleston during a press conference announcing his incoming staff and cabinet picks. “That’s not a secret to anyone.”
Two years ago, Justice and the GOP-controlled Legislature passed a 21.25% income tax cut. Last year, an economic trigger in that legislation cut the income tax by another 4% and just weeks before the 2024 election, Justice called lawmakers to Charleston to pass another 2% income tax cut.
“When you have tax cuts, you have to pay for them, right?” Morrisey said. “So that hasn’t really been done yet.”
Morrisey isn’t yet saying how he will do that. Morrisey’s team will do “audits and performance reviews” of every agency to find ways to save money. State officials will be asked to “do more with less.”
He didn’t specify what agencies might see cuts. But he’s convinced spending cuts and more tax cuts will improve West Virginia’s economy.
“That’s our goal,” he said. “We’re not going to deviate from that, and I think we can make that happen.”
West Virginia’s residents and communities need help
In conversations in all 55 counties during the run-up to the 2024 election, West Virginians said they need more drug treatment, better jobs and affordable child care. Residents said they want clean water and good roads.
In the Eastern Panhandle, Morrisey’s home and the fastest growing part of the state, the cost of living is rising and infrastructure isn’t ready for the influx of residents. In the southern coalfields, what used to be the economic engine of the state has been hit hard by the decline of the coal industry.
From Kingwood to Ronceverte, people said they worry about the next generation of West Virginians. Will they be able to get a good education? And will there be good-paying jobs close to home when they graduate?
Many have already left. But those who’ve stayed said it’s a deliberate, but not easy, decision.
In Lincoln County, young people said jobs are hard to come by and many have to drive over an hour to work. On the campus of West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, students said it’s harder to make ends meet in the state but they want to see it improve.
In Charleston, Morrisey is preparing to take office and says that he is focused on these concerns. He said he plans to make West Virginia a state where families are able to flourish, kids do well in school and well-paying jobs keep them here after graduation.
To get there, he plans to cut regulations, which he says will encourage business growth. He’s starting with cuts to government agencies where public servants, who do everything from clearing snow from highways to protecting public health, have already been asked for years to do more with less.
The state’s foster care system is in crisis. West Virginia’s deadly jails struggle to keep staff and fix buildings. Public schools are closing.
“A lot of people sometimes look to just say, we need more money,” Morrisey said. “We’re going to look for the efficiencies and the accountability we need, because we have to transform how government works here in West Virginia and be in a place where we’re generating more savings, so we can put that money back into people’s pockets, to have deeper tax cuts.”