Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin will veto what his office called an "irresponsible" budget bill passed Thursday by the West Virginia Legislature.
"The governor thinks it's an irresponsible plan that leaves long-term structural holes, and he will not approve it," spokesman Chris Stadelman said Friday.
The budget bill (HB 101), passed by state lawmakers Thursday, uses $182.6 million in Rainy Day reserve funds and $62.4 million in one-time fund sweeps from various accounts to close a $270 million shortfall in the 2016-17 state budget.
"The governor has consistently said we can't use one-time monies and excessive Rainy Day funds to balance the budget," Stadelman said.
Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer, and House Speaker Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
Besides endangering the state's bond ratings, the budget bill does nothing to address projected shortfalls of $380 million in the fiscal 2018 and 2019 budgets, Stadelman said.
"The governor is not going to leave his successor with the same problems Gaston Caperton encountered when he came into office," he said.
Faced with a massive budget deficit upon taking office in January 1989, Caperton called legislators into special session prior to the 1989 regular session to pass nearly $400 million in tax increases to keep the state government solvent.
The budget bill is expected to reach Tomblin's desk on Monday, Stadelman said.
He said the Governor's Office is working on a concise plan for legislators to take up when they return to Charleston to resume the special session.
The Legislature on Thursday recessed the session until June 12, and Stadelman said no decision had been made as of Friday on whether to call legislators back into session earlier.
"Time is, obviously, of the essence," he said. "We will take action as quickly as possible."
The state government is to shut down July 1 if no 2016-17 budget has been enacted.
"The governor, obviously, does not want to see state government shut down, but we also have to have a responsible budget," said Stadelman, who added that staff attorneys are studying options in light of the Legislature's failure to pass a furlough bill that would have given the governor authority to appropriate funds through executive order.
Stadelman said Tomblin is disappointed that Democrats in the Legislature voted against proposed increases in the tobacco tax and consumer sales tax, adding that the governor will work to build support for his revenue proposals.
"We will continue to have those discussions and, hopefully, will bring together a coalition," Stadelman said.
He said tax increases of some sort are "going to have to be part of the solution" to balancing the budget.
"If the Legislature believes there is enormous bloat in the budget, they need to identify that," he said. "If not, they need to come with some new tax revenue."
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1220 or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.