CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Although it costs the state Department of Transportation about $3.4 million a year to operate West Virginia's highway rest areas and welcome centers, there are no plans to follow Virginia's lead and close any of them, the department's business manager said Monday.

"I have not been involved in any discussions with the commissioner or anybody else about closing our welcome centers or rest areas," Danny Ellis said Monday.

It's a different story in Virginia, where state government - faced with a $2.6 billion budget deficit - has proposed closing 25 of the commonwealth's 41 rest areas, to cut spending in the cash-strapped agency by about $12 million a year.

West Virginia's Division of Highways maintains 12 rest areas, six of which include welcome centers, at a total cost in the 2007-08 budget year of more than $3.4 million. (Operating costs are lower in the current budget year, because the Morgantown and Burnsville locations were closed for renovations.)

Ellis said the largest single expense of operating the 12 facilities is for janitorial services, accounting for about $2.35 million of the total.

Those jobs go to disabled West Virginians who are employed by sheltered workshops around the state, and closing rest areas would pose a hardship for them, he said.

Operating expenses, for costs of utilities and supplies, run more than $920,000. Maintenance performed by Division of Highways employees, including moving, trash pick-up and routine repairs, costs about $141,000.

Meanwhile, state Tourism Commission Betty Carver said closing welcome centers would harm the state's tourism industry.

In 2008, she said, more than 3.1 million visitors stopped at the state's eight welcome centers (two of which are on the West Virginia Turnpike, and are maintained by the state Parkways Authority).

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Although it costs the state Department of Transportation about $3.4 million a year to operate West Virginia's highway rest areas and welcome centers, there are no plans to follow Virginia's lead and close any of them, the department's business manager said Monday.

"I have not been involved in any discussions with the commissioner or anybody else about closing our welcome centers or rest areas," Danny Ellis said Monday.

It's a different story in Virginia, where state government - faced with a $2.6 billion budget deficit - has proposed closing 25 of the commonwealth's 41 rest areas, to cut spending in the cash-strapped agency by about $12 million a year.

West Virginia's Division of Highways maintains 12 rest areas, six of which include welcome centers, at a total cost in the 2007-08 budget year of more than $3.4 million. (Operating costs are lower in the current budget year, because the Morgantown and Burnsville locations were closed for renovations.)

Ellis said the largest single expense of operating the 12 facilities is for janitorial services, accounting for about $2.35 million of the total.

Those jobs go to disabled West Virginians who are employed by sheltered workshops around the state, and closing rest areas would pose a hardship for them, he said.

Operating expenses, for costs of utilities and supplies, run more than $920,000. Maintenance performed by Division of Highways employees, including moving, trash pick-up and routine repairs, costs about $141,000.

Meanwhile, state Tourism Commission Betty Carver said closing welcome centers would harm the state's tourism industry.

In 2008, she said, more than 3.1 million visitors stopped at the state's eight welcome centers (two of which are on the West Virginia Turnpike, and are maintained by the state Parkways Authority).

Carver said that, unlike many states, Tourism shares the cost of operating the welcome centers by paying salaries and benefits for the 32 employees who staff tourist information centers at the welcome centers.

"They're very well versed, and charged with knowing tourism for all sections of the state," Carver said Monday.

Because of that, employees at the Interstate 81 welcome center in the Eastern Panhandle are able to provide information and assist with reservations for travelers heading onto the Hatfield-McCoy ATV trails in Southern West Virginia, she noted.

Carver said it would be shortsighted to close welcome centers to save state highway funds, given the role they play in promoting the state's tourism industry.

Given that the Division of Highways has a $1.1 billion budget, cutting spending by $3.4 million would not have a significant impact, Ellis said.

"It's not a lot for sure," he said.

He said the state might have to look at closing welcome centers and rest areas in the future, if the state Road Fund worsens.

"If push comes to shove, everything would certainly be on the table," Ellis said. "We're not flush with money. We've tried to spread it out as thin as it will go, and still be able to maintain daily operations of the highways."

Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.