The West Virginia Legislature passed a $10 billion budget Sunday that could grant state employees and teachers relief from an expected hike in their insurance premiums.
Those premiums were scheduled to go up 22 percent in July under an earlier mandate by the Legislature. Now, the premiums should increase by about 11 percent, according to House Finance Chairman Harold Michael, D-Hardy.
The relief is only temporary, however. State employees and teachers can expect to pick up the rest of the cost a year from July, Michael said.
Union officials hope to stop any premium increases, according to Judy Hale, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
She said there's no need to go to "80-20," where employees cover 20 percent of premiums.
Right now, state employees pay about 17 percent of the cost of their premiums, but they cover one-third of their total health-care costs through copays and deductibles, she said.
"We're appreciative the premium is going to be rolled back some," Hale said. "But we're coming out of the session without a pay raise, and past raises have been eaten up by rising health costs."
Hale and other union officials said they weren't sure there was enough money set aside in the budget to do what lawmakers said they were going to do. They are studying the budget and hope to get a definitive answer today.
The budget also increases funding for higher education, but some institutions were bigger winners than others.
Lawmakers voted to give Marshall University a 9 percent increase in funding, compared to about 5 percent for West Virginia University.
Those figures include satellite campuses, medical programs and community and technical programs. When those are stripped away, the core programs at Marshall received a 12 percent boost, compared to 4 percent for WVU.
Delegate Cindy Frich, R-Monongalia, asked Michael why Marshall got the bigger percentage increase. Michael said Marshall is farther behind its peers than WVU in the amount of funding it gets from the state. He said the Senate wanted even more money for Marshall and that the approved budget is a compromise.
Senate Education Chairman Robert Plymale, D-Wayne, works for a federally funded transportation institute on the Marshall campus.
West Virginia University Institute of Technology is another winner in this budget, garnering a one-third increase in general revenue money, from $6 million to $8 million.
However, that's still less than the school wanted. Tech officials argue that they need more funding to renovate dormitories and to run expensive engineering programs.
West Virginia State University also got an increase in general revenue funds, from about $9 million to $11 million this year.
Lawmakers also weighed in on the debate over whether Marshall should open a law school. In their budget bill, they say WVU "shall continue to operate as the state's exclusive public college of law."
The language doesn't carry the force of law, but should serve as a reminderto Marshall officials of what the Legislature is willing to pay for, Michael said.
Lawmakers also made large payments on the state's debts this year, taking advantage of unexpectedly good revenues, mostly from the gambling and coal industries.
West Virginia has the worst-funded teachers' pension system in the country, with an estimated $5 billion unfunded liability.
Lawmakers put $568 million toward paying off that debt, about $234 million more than they were scheduled to pay. Michael said legislators hope to pay off an additional $267 million in debt during a May special session.
That would make the system about 30 percent funded — far below the national average of 70 percent, but better than the 20 percent level of a few years ago.
"I think that is magnificent," said Delegate Eustace Frederick, D-Mercer.
Paying down the debt now will save the state untold millions in the future, Michael said. Otherwise, an ever-increasing percentage of the state budget will be eaten up by debt service.
Medicaid, the state/federal program for low-income children, the elderly and disabled, will get about $60 million more than last year, Michael said, a total of $394 million. The state is being forced to pay for more of the program as the federal government cuts its matching funds.
Even though lawmakers eliminated the controversial budget digest, they set aside plenty ol money for pet projects in their districts. Michael said they will decide how to distribute the funds forthose projects in a special session, probably in May.
The total budget this year is $3.6 billion for general revenue, which includes most taxes, and $1Q billion counting federal funds, lottery money and special taxes.
Democratic lawmakers did not take up major tax cuts this session, despite the budget surplus and Republican calls for tax reductions.
Gov. Joe Manchin has promised a special session in the fall to deal with all taxes, after a consultant completes a tap-to-bottom review of state finances.
On the Web: www.legis.state
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To contact staff writer Scott Finn, use e-mail or call 357-4323.