This week I saw 2010's most surprising headline to date: Virginia actually has a budget surplus! The Progress initially printed an AP story and then editorialized its applause later in the week.Virginia’s battered state budget ended a turbulent 2010 fiscal year on June 30 with a surprise surplus of about $220 million, government figures show ... The surplus ended a dire budget year in which official revenue forecasts were lowered three times and raised once as policymakers struggled to reconcile a nearly $2 billion shortfall.I was extremely surprised: amidst all of the budgetary woes facing various states (Illinois is the one that's been in the national news recently), I thought that we'd be short at least a few hundred million, particularly since the projected deficit was so large as of this winter.
This is a huge feather in Governor McDonnell's cap in terms of his national political aspirations. I feel like whenever I read a profile article about a governor with national ambitions, it includes a line to the effect of "while the politicians in Washington bicker, [insert name] managed to turn [insert state name]'s budget deficit into a surplus by making hard decisions and being willing to work across the aisle to actually get things done."
