CHARLESTON — A joint legislative committee is shaping the finer details for a new, $11.6 billion spending plan for West Virginia state government.

The House and Senate exchanged versions of the budget bill last week that differed by a total of only $2.3 million. Now in extended session, the joint conference committee has until the weekend to craft a final bill.

The next budget year begins July 1. House Finance Chairman Harry Keith White expects to present a compromise spending plan to lawmakers by Friday.

“We’re very close to having agreement on all these accounts,” the Mingo County Democrat said Wednesday.

While their overall totals are close, the two versions are slightly farther apart in certain areas.

Both outline $3.7 billion worth of spending backed by general tax revenues, $4.48 billion from federal sources, $1.39 billion from the State Road Fund and $1.4 billion from special revenue such as fees.

But the Senate has proposed spending $531 million from lottery proceeds, while the House would rely on an additional $14 million from that source.

Among other changes in lottery spending, delegates voted to apply an additional $18.7 million toward the massive funding shortfall that has long plagued the state’s teacher pension fund. Senators chose to fund that through general revenue budgeted for state school aid.

The House has also added $22.2 million for a pair of waiver programs that provide in-home care to seniors and the disabled. Delegates had proposed dipping into a Medicaid reserve account for the money. Gov. Joe Manchin has adopted a strict hands-off policy for those dollars, citing future projected deficits in that health care program.

“That’s where we would like to tap it, but we know that the governor does not want to reduce the Medicaid line,” White said. “We’re going to go back and fund that with lines we had budgeted for programs in bills that didn’t pass.”

The two chambers are in sync over $2.7 million for 417 fairs, festivals and other causes back home. White said nearly all of those earmarks have been cut by 2.5 percent when compared to the current budget.

The House and Senate also differ by less than $145,000 in the roughly $23 million for the state Development Office. That section supplies scores of “community participation projects” requested by constituents in member districts.

Manchin had proposed an $11.3 billion budget when the 60-day session began in January. That’s about 2 percent smaller than the one passed last year. Stimulus-related funds allowed him to increase his spending recommendations just before the regular session concluded Saturday. As a result, the House and Senate versions grew by around $280 million.

Federal stimulus dollars and lottery surplus have largely offset proposed cuts scattered throughout the new budget. As a result, West Virginia has been spared the agony ongoing in other states facing budget deficits that totaled $21.9 billion as of December, according to a National Conference of State Legislatures report.

“That has helped tremendously,” White said.