Department of Revenue Secretary Bob Kiss Story Archives

Former W.Va. House Speaker Bob Kiss Has Died

Robert “Bob” Kiss, served in the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1988 until 2006 and he held the position of Speaker of the House from 1997 until 2006. Word of his passing spread Friday night. He was 63.

Kiss was a Raleigh County Democrat.

After leaving the House, Kiss moved to Charleston to work as an attorney for the law firm of Bowles Rice. Later, he was appointed Secretary of Revenue under Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. In 2017, he returned to work at the law firm.

As an attorney, he was recognized in the areas of tax law and trusts and estate law by Best Lawyers in America.

Governor Jim Justice issued a statement about Kiss on Friday. “Cathy and I send our deepest condolences to Speaker Kiss’s family and friends during this difficult time and ask all West Virginians to join us in prayer for them,” Justice said. “Speaker Kiss embodied the West Virginia spirit of devotion to serving others. He was one of the longest serving Speakers of the House in our state’s history, and after that served as Gov. Tomblin’s Secretary of Revenue. During his time in government, he was an integral part of establishing West Virginia’s Rainy Day Fund and also helped establish the School Building Authority and Water Development Council, both of which are now vitally important to government operations.”

Justice said he would issue a proclamation to lower flags to half-staff in Kiss’ honor.

According to his biography on the Bowles Rice website, in the Tomblin administration, Kiss served as the state budget director and the governor’s designee for the Board of Treasury Investments, where he served as chairman of the Investment Committee; the Water Development Board; the West Virginia Housing Development Fund; and the Early Childhood Planning Task Force. He was also chairman of the Investment Management Board.

As a legislator, he was extensively involved in more than a decade of major economic and fiscal legislation, including the West Virginia School Building Authority; water and sewer infrastructure development; state tax policy; state health care plans, including PEIA and Medicaid; state retirement systems; the workers’ compensation system; and TIF legislation.

Kiss is survived by his wife Melinda and twin sons, Cameron and Carter.

As Revenues Decline, Tomblin will Propose 2018 Budget Plan

State tax incomes are continuing to decline according revenue officials, but Governor Tomblin will present a plan to lawmakers Wednesday to balance the budget during the upcoming legislative session.

Revenue Secretary Bob Kiss told lawmakers Monday that the state missed collection estimates by nearly $7 million in the month of December. For the entire fiscal year that began in July, the state has collected nearly $100 million less than estimated.

On Wednesday, Gov. Tomblin will give his farewell address before a joint meeting of the Legislature in the House Chamber.

Kiss said during that address, Tomblin will set forth a plan for lawmakers to balance the 2018 budget, but it’s likely that plan will include suggestions for tax increases, something the Legislature has been unwilling to consider in recent years.

Lawmakers did, however, approve an increase to the state’s cigarette tax during a special session last summer.

Tomblin’s speech is scheduled for 2 p.m. and is expected to last nearly an hour.

The speech will be broadcast live on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s second television channel, the West Virginia channel.

Continued Declines in W.Va. Revenues Spell More Budget Cuts

More cuts could be on the way after West Virginia started the budget year with three straight months of revenues below what state officials predicted.

The Department of Revenue announced Tuesday that the state is $81.2 million behind revenue estimates and $15 million behind prior year revenues.

Department spokeswoman Lalena Price says Revenue Secretary Bob Kiss will make recommendations in the next several weeks, likely including a continued hiring freeze and some cuts, either across-the-board, targeted or some combination.

The September totals were $32.3 million below estimates, largely due to drops in personal income and corporate net income tax revenues.

Consumer sales tax and severance tax, which has fallen due to the declining coal industry and low natural gas prices, have been problematic in previous months, but exceed estimates this month.

W.Va. Tax Collections Fall Short of August Estimates

West Virginia revenue officials say tax collections in August improved over the previous month, but are still below estimates.

State Revenue Secretary Bob Kiss said August marked the second month in a row this fiscal year that state tax collections fell short of estimates.

August revenues were more than $16 million below projections. In July, collections were more than $33 million short of estimates.

Kiss said while his office is “hopefully optimistic” collections will improve during the next several months, it will take looking at the final income numbers in September and possibly October before his office can determine if the state can handle the deficit.

If not, Kiss said he has every reason to believe Gov. Tomblin will take action as he has in the past.

“If there’s one thing that’s in his DNA more than anything else, is he’s committed to having a balanced budget and he certainly is not going to turn over to the next governor an unbalanced one because he’s unwilling to make budget cuts,” he said on a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

Kiss said Tomblin has cut West Virginia’s base budget by more than $400 million during his time in office.

W.Va. Ends Fiscal Year $426M Under Estimates

State revenue officials say West Virginia didn’t end the 2016 fiscal year quite as badly off as they predicted, but they’re still calling it the worst budget year in decades.

Department of Revenue Secretary Bob Kiss said in a conference call with reporters Friday his office predicted the state would end the 2016 fiscal year at the end of June some $464 million below revenue estimates.

In order to close the gap, Governor Tomblin cut state agency budgets and lawmakers approved a number of supplemental appropriations along with pulling money from the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

But the state ended the year only $426 million below estimates, saving West Virginia’s Medicaid program from a $30 million end-of-year cut. The governor instead only cut the program by $8 million.

Still, Kiss said it’s the continued decline of severance tax income that’s hurting West Virginia’s bottom line.

“In 2015, up until about the last quarter of the fiscal year, we were meeting and even exceeding our severance tax estimates,” Kiss said. “So, I think what that shows you is the magnitude. It was a significant challenge.”

The severance tax is the state’s third largest revenue source after income and sales taxes.