Kaine will cut nearly $1 million from his office's budget

Posted to: News Virginia

By Cindy Clayton
The Virginian-Pilot
© October 8, 2008

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said today that he’ll cut his staff and budget by $900,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year and increase the cut to $1.4 million for 2010.

Kaine has cut his budget by $1.9 million, including reducing his own salary by 5 percent, the statement says.

Kaine plans to discuss actions to address the state’s budget shortfall tomorrow during a news conference in Richmond.

The governor asked his staff to find items to eliminate in his office’s budget and for that of the executive mansion, the statement says.

In October 2007 and February 2008, his office reduced spending by $667,000, according to the statement. His office eliminated eight positions, trimmed 25 percent off the grocery bill for events at the mansion, reduced travel for Kaine and the first lady and eliminated other items.

His office also ended the purchase of bottled water, started sending invitations to functions via e-mail and cut other routine expenses.

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Kaine should reduce his

Submitted by lizard on Wed, 10/08/2008 at 1:14 pm.

Kaine should reduce his salary by 100% and then resign.

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Thank You

Submitted by richarddavis on Wed, 10/08/2008 at 11:58 am.

I did not vote for him. I would like to say thanks for leading by example with the cutting of his own salary. Good example to other government leaders.

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Good Move!

Submitted by Roger Leonard on Wed, 10/08/2008 at 11:40 am.

This is a good move that should be of noted and followed by all of our City Managers. The growth in free spending for years, now must end and be rolled back. We need our local governments to reduce costs and get smaller and more affordable. There is no time to "wait and see" about cuts as our Mayor stated in a recent meeting of the Suffolk City Council.

Local government demands to much for what it gives us and must be reduced. With the demands of the Federal and State government being driven by your ability to pay (make more pay more), local governments get most from real estate taxes, where there is no recognition that your ability to pay has shrunk. The result of failing to pay the fixed real estate tax is default and a court ordered sale of your home. We need to reduce real estate taxes NOW, and that can only happen if we reduce the spending of local government!

Roger A. Leonard, MPA
Suffolk...

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