CHARLESTON (WV News) — State officials will have to perform a "balancing act" when devising the next fiscal year’s budget, West Virginia Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson told lawmakers Monday.

Nelson, testifying before a meeting of the West Virginia Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance, highlighted a number of variables that could complicate the budgeting process.

"We have the challenges of PEIA (West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency) ... We have changes in our HOPE Scholarship that we’re looking at, and estimates at this time show an expense increase of up to $200 million ... there are projected pay raises into the future," Nelson said. "So we’ve got to have a balancing act with all of that."

Gov. Patrick Morrisey, in a statement released along with data on general revenue

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