By Evan Bevins
The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
CHARLESTON — State employees will get a raise in the Fiscal Year 2027 budget, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Thursday.
“We will have a pay raise for state employees, period,” he said during a press conference at the Capitol. “That’s going to include teachers. That’s going to include school service personnel. That’s going to include our hard-working State Police and so many of the people, the correction officers, who are working hard every day to make West Virginia a better place to live, to work and to play.”
Morrisey said he could not provide more specifics about the raise at this time but will be working with legislators on a package ahead of releasing the budget in January with his State of the State address.
The governor said “tough decisions” he made over the last year are starting to pay off.“ I think it’s important that our employees benefit when things are coming along the right way,” he said.
According to a release from Morrisey’s office, the proposed raises would cover employees funded through the state’s general revenue budget, which includes “the vast majority of state workers.”
Morrisey also provided an update on the condition of West Virginia National Guard Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, who was shot in November while patrolling a Washington, D.C., subway station three blocks from the White House.“
He’s smiling, and he’s moving more of his right side, even sitting in a chair for a couple of hours,” Morrisey said.
Wolfe, a 24-year-old Martinsburg resident, suffered a head wound in the attack. Morrisey said Wolfe’s communication is improving but he’s not yet doing so verbally.“
I know that Andy’s parents are optimistic, but we want to note that there’s an intense rehabilitation period ahead,” he said.The attack also wounded 20-year-old Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, who died the following day. She was laid to rest with full military honors during a ceremony and interment Tuesday at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton.
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