Central Virginia organization cut from state budget

BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - The Bridge Ministry in Buckingham County had to cease some of their operations after discovering they were cut from the state budget and will not be receiving half a million dollars.

“That has really put the program, which was already under financial pressure, under a lot of other financial pressure,” Jay James with The Bridge Ministry said, “We were actually in the budget that was negotiated in August. We were in that budget to receive an appropriation from the state.”

James says in the 31 years the organization has been serving the state, they’ve never received consistent state or local funding.

“We were right at the door, and we were just about for that to happen in this last budget negotiation, and right at the last minute, for whatever reason, somehow in all of the conferencing and the compromising and the things that were going on, our appropriation was pulled out, and we didn’t receive it,” James said.

Virginia Senator Creigh Deeds says the Senate’s original budget included about $1 billion more in spending that the House included because of tax cuts.

“At the end of the day, we had to accommodate those tax cuts,” Senator Deeds said, “Some of our spending requests were victims of that.”

Senator Deeds says The Bridge Ministry budget cut was news to him.

“I didn’t find out about it until the final reports was made,” Senator Deeds said, “I was terribly disappointed in the Bridge Ministry money that was lost because I believe in what they’re doing. I know they’re changing lives and they’re helping to create productive citizens are helping straighten people out.”

In the meantime, if you want to support the Bridge Ministry, you can follow the link here.

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