RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Gov. Terry McAuliffe is warning Virginia lawmakers to brace for “tough decisions ahead” to address a roughly $1.5 billion budget shortfall. The Democratic governor told the General Assembly’s money committees Friday that budget woes are being driven by lower income and sales tax revenue collections than anticipated. The projected shortfall for the current-two year budget is $1.2 billion. That’s in addition to shortfall of about $280 million carried over from the budget year that ended June 30. McAuliffe said the state will fill some of the gap in the current fiscal first year with about $125 million that was supposed to cover raises for state employees, teachers and other state-supported workers. He proposed using another roughly $378 million from the state’s rainy-day fund; lawmakers would have to approve that.
