A report released Thursday by two conservative government watchdog organizations claims $330 million in wasteful spending by state agencies.
Produced by the Koch brothers-backed Taxpayers Protection Alliance and state partner, the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy, "Wild and Wasteful West Virginia" is essentially a compilation of previously published reports by the state Legislative Auditor's Office, as well as a number of news items on government spending.
From big budget items such as Medicaid and highways, to the Legislature's annual awarding of hundreds of small grants to support fairs and festivals statewide, the 54-page report calls itself, "A guide for state lawmakers and public officials looking for opportunities to trim fat in the state budget and reduce the burden of government on West Virginia's taxpayers."
"This is the reason why there shouldn't be tax increases in West Virginia," said David Williams, president of the Alexandria, Va.-based alliance. "There's plenty of wasteful spending to be cut in West Virginia."
Among the targets for the prospective spending ax in the report: West Virginia Public Broadcasting, West Liberty University athletics, and Glenville and Bluefield state colleges.
It also calls for eliminating the state's eight Regional Educational Service Agencies (RESAs) and cutting Department of Education central office expenses by 10 percent.
Garrett Ballengee, executive director of the Cardinal Institute, confirmed that the report is primarily a compilation of news accounts and state audits, and is not an exhaustive study, but should be a starting point for discussions on government spending.
"Not everyone is going to agree that everything in there is wasteful," he said of the report.
The largest item of waste cited in the report is $100 million of Medicaid spending, based on the settlement of a lawsuit last fall in which the Department of Health and Human Resources agreed to competitively bid contracts with health maintenance organizations.
The $100 million figure was from a quote by one of the plaintiffs, who said the agreement could save the state that amount. Primarily federally funded, the state spends nearly $4 billion a year on Medicaid.
Another major source of waste the study cites is the recent audit of the Division of Highways, which identified possible $25 million to $50 million of annual savings, out of a division budget that exceeds $1 billion a year.
Among the targets of the report is West Virginia Public Broadcasting, claiming it's not free TV for state residents "who are on the hook for more than $5.5 million to underwrite public broadcasting in the state."
Public Broadcasting executive director Scott Finn said Thursday that that figure and several other figures in the report are incorrect, with state funding for WVPB in the current and upcoming budget year set at $4.7 million.
He said that accounts for less than half of the agency's overall budget, most of which comes from pledges and corporate sponsorships.
Among other errors, he said the report references $750,000 of state spending to buy new equipment for WVPB stations, which in fact was funded through a federal grant.
"I really wish someone from the institute had contacted us," Finn said. "We could have clarified some misunderstandings in this report."
Finn was at the Capitol Thursday overseeing installation of new fiber optic connections that, among other things, will permit live broadcasts from the Emergency Operations Center during future state emergencies.
Currently, the technology is providing live coverage of the legislative sessions and state Supreme Court hearings on the West Virginia Channel and on WVPB's website.
"We've worked hand-in-glove with Legislative Services to put in a system that allows us to flip a switch and allow people to see what's going on in state government," he said.
The report also proposes eliminating the West Virginia Film Office, which awards tax credits to film and television productions that use state locations. The report calls it a sleazy form of corporate welfare "used to bribe movie and television producers to film in the state."
It also proposes closing or consolidating colleges, calling Glenville State and Bluefield State the "least economically viable colleges." It also cites money-losing athletic programs at Marshall and West Liberty, saying that with the latter program losing $1.5 million a year, "it would be best if West Liberty threw in the towel on its intercollegiate athletic endeavors."
The report reviews a number of items frequently cited in news reports, including greyhound racing subsidies (about $14 million a year), the state Courtesy Patrol ($3.2 million) and the Rural Rehabilitation Loan Program ($1 million).
In addition to calling for elimination of state grants for fairs and festivals ($2.9 million), it calls for eliminating most state funding for the arts, state museums, as well as ending publication of Goldenseal magazine.
Among the targets are the Clay Center, which it says gets $460,000 of state and local grants, and the West Virginia Symphony, with $89,500 of taxpayer funding.
"These are not handouts from the state," Clay Center president Al Najjar responded. "It supports significant programs with specific objectives."
He said total public funding of the museum amounts to less than 10 percent of its operating budget, adding, "I have no problem showing people what we do with that money. I think we do some great stuff here."
The report is particularly critical of a $7,200 grant for the American Conservation Film Festival in Shepherdstown, calling it a "politically divisive, environmental extremist film festival," and a grant for the Appalachian Queer Film Festival in Lewisburg, which it says "screened a number of films many taxpayers would find objectionable."
It also objects to spending $1.8 million for sponsorship rights to The Greenbrier Classic PGA golf tournament, an expense it incorrectly attributes to the Legislature. The report contends the money, actually from the state Development Office, "ultimately went to Jim Justice, the owner of the Greenbrier Resort, as well as a frequent donor to West Virginia elected officials and a 2016 gubernatorial candidate."
To put the purported wasteful spending in perspective, $330 million is less than 8 percent of the state's $4.3 billion general revenue budget, and about 2.5 percent of the state's total annual operating budget of $12.56 billion, which includes Lottery, special revenue and federal funds.
Eliminating $330 million of spending also would not be enough to close the current budget year deficit, projected at more than $350 million, or the more than $460 million budget shortfall in the upcoming 2016-17 state budget.
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304 348-1220, or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.