A. Barton Hinkle Debunks the Claim That Virginia Government Is Getting Smaller

To hear some folks tell it, budget cuts in Virginia over the past three to four years have been so savage it's a miracle there's any state government left. We long ago cut out all the fat and hacked through the muscle; now we're sawing deep into bone. Localities are scared stiff that the state will stiff them come January. And it's only going to get worse. Gov. Bob McDonnell has had state agencies prepare plans cutting 2 percent, 4 percent, and 6 percent from their budgets. The stories have grown numbingly familiar. Yet at the same time, writes A. Barton Hinkle, state revenue is increasing, and so is the size of the state budget.