Counties will have to wait to the end of June for budget clarification

With the expected state budget not expected to be passed until the end of June,  Accomack and Northampton County budgets remain in limbo until that happens.  State legislators have cited a number of reasons they don’t expect to pass the final budget for almost 2 more months.

With a potential default in the national debt looming, Virginia legislators say they will wait on the outcome of the confrontation between President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and a crucial report on state revenues collected in May  before deciding on how to bridge a $1biiion gap in revisions to the $177 billion two year state budget.

Also, due to pending primary elections for some members of the General Assembly in June, Democrats seem unlikely to want to compromise or give the Governor his proposed $1billion tax cut before the vote is taken.

Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee Barry Knight a Republican, said “We’ve got to look at revenues in May and we’ve got to look at a wild card in the federal government.”

Monday was the deadline for Virginia taxpayers to file their returns and final payments for 2022 income taxes,  which account for 70% of state revenues in the final budget.

One of the issues that would have a local effect is the COCA funding both Accomack and Northampton Counties are expecting.  While both counties have assured school personnel that their promised raises will happen regardless of what happens in Richmond, neither county can be sure what state revenues are coming its way until the final budget is passed.