Gov. Morrisey gives details on ‘Backyard Brawl’ to bring economic growth
January 24, 2025
CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrissey has said time and time again that one of his main focuses is making the state more economically competitive with bordering states, calling this initiative the “Backyard Brawl.”
On Wednesday, he gave more insight on his goals regarding state economic growth and announced Todd Johnston as West Virginia’s Energy, Infrastructure, and Competitiveness Director. Gov. Morrisey said in partnership with Johnston and other cabinet members, he hopes to further investment in energy to attract more inward migration and job growth.
“I think that the focus of this administration is fixing the fundamental issues so that we can compete,” Gov. Morrisey said. “We now have the ability to do the hard work to make sure that we’re competing on tax issues, on regulation issues, on education issues and many other different topics. I think that everything you’re going to see is focused on economic growth and then beginning to build out a structurally sound budget that I think people are going to be proud of.”
He said creating a more competitive West Virginia involves working with newly inaugurated President Donald Trump in light of Trump’s recently signed executive order declaring a national energy emergency.
Morrisey said he spoke with Trump’s cabinet members who are “eager to work with West Virginia.”
“West Virginia is looking to utilize all of its energy resources to move forward, and I do believe that the sum total of the Trump policies are going to be widely beneficial for our state. In terms of any of the particulars, I think it’s preliminary to say yet because we still have to see some of the other announcements behind those proposals, executive orders,” Morrisey said.
Morrisey also plans to review regulations on businesses, state taxes and more to create what he calls a “more attractive” West Virginia.
“There are winners and losers in the economic arena. I want to make sure we are winning compared to all the states we touch. What does that mean? I want to start to see our standard of living go up,” Morrisey said.
Morrisey continued, “That means commerce, the pace of commerce increases. When the pace of commerce increases, it becomes much more attractive for more businesses to come in. That means more jobs, less unemployment. The ability to attract more people here to expand the tax revenue. Why is it important to expand the base of that where taxes are applied? So that every individual citizen in the state has lower taxes, more take-home pay
Other members of the public and officials too are on board with this approach.
“We have fewer people working in 2024 in West Virginia than we had in 2023. So, that would suggest we are going in the wrong direction. We need to turn that around, and to turn that around, we need to look at the basics. Are our taxes right? Is our regulatory situation right?” President of West Virginia Chamber of Commerce Steve Roberts said.
With that in mind, Morrisey announced last week that the need for economic growth is crucial considering he’s projecting a $400 million deficit for fiscal year 2026.
“Everything that we said last week is of course factual and correct,” Morrisey said on Thursday. “We’re looking to address issues whether it’s the budget. We’re looking to make sure we have structurally sound budgets. So, when we have continuous programs, for the most part, they’re funded by continuous revenue across the board.”
Morrisey said though there is a $1.3 billion rainy day fund, the budget deficit is still a major concern. That’s in addition to former Gov. Jim Justice announcing a surplus in early January 2025.
However, others agree that the state is heading into a deficit rather than a surplus.
“We have strong reserves, but on a going-forward basis, we agree with Gov. Morrisey that we need to be very concerned about what the revenues are going to be and what the level of spending is going to be because we agree with his numbers and believe that the trend is probably more towards a deficit than it is a surplus,” Roberts said.
“So again, we would applaud Gov. Morrisey for rolling up his sleeves and getting into the numbers to really sort this out and take a look at ‘here’s where we are, but what will the revenue be going forward? What are the spending needs going forward?’ Of course, that’s where we came up with the fact that we could have as much as a $400 million deficit.”
Story by Jordan Mead, WOWK