The clock is ticking.
As high-level negotiations continue in an effort to hammer out a
new state budget by Monday, three local Republican lawmakers said
Wednesday the political atmosphere in the capitol isn’t as
poisonous as last year when the spending plan was passed days after
the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t still areas of concern:
arriving at an adequate method for school funding, revenue
shortfalls and blunting excess spending are all on the lawmakers’
priority list.
The proposed ,28.3 billion budget calls for a 4.2 percent
increase in spending.
“I believe we are many days ahead of last year in the process,”
Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Brockway, said. “It’s
refreshing. There’s not a whole lot of partisan bickering and
rhetoric.”
Scarnati said the ongoing budget negotiations are being attended
by leaders from all four caucuses, adding “all the stakeholders are
at the table.
“When you are working with four legislative caucuses and a
governor, anyone can throw a real bomb into this at any time. But,
we are continuing to see improvement and I’m optimistic we can see
a budget by June 30.”
Likely among the discussion is the state’s declining revenue,
which is down by ,142.2 million for May, when the state collected
,1.8 billion for the general fund, according to the state
Department of Revenue.
Among the revenue figures that are down: the sales, personal and
corporate taxes along with the motor license fund. The state does
have a safety net, however, in a ,250 million surplus. That figure
– which some have indicated is actually lower – is light years
ahead of most neighboring states, including New Jersey, which is
looking at cutting vital services.
“We are certainly not in the same circumstances as last year,”
Rep. Martin Causer, R-Turtlepoint, said. “There’s really is no
reason why we can’t come forward with an on-time fiscally
responsible budget if the governor will work with us.”
That shouldn’t include dipping into the surplus to arrive at a
balanced budget, the lawmakers said.
“When this administration sees a pile of money, they think ‘we
can go and spend that,'” Rep. Kathy Rapp, R-Warren, said, adding
that House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans of Philadelphia has
suggested taking money from the rainy day fund. “We have that
surplus because of tax dollars, which begs me to ask the question –
are we taxing too much?”
Causer agreed, saying “this governor has never seen a dollar he
didn’t want to spend. If we spend the money in there (rainy day
fund), then when we are truly on hard economic times, even more so
than today, we’ll have no other recourse than to raise taxes to
come up with that revenue.”
The decline in revenue – partly as a result of a sagging
national economy – has left lawmakers without much wiggle room
while crafting the final version of the budget.
“At this time of year, everybody comes knocking on the doors of
legislators and requesting an increase (for their programs),” Rapp
said. “I am opposed to a huge increase in spending. This governor
has increased the debt ceiling each year.
“Especially with the price of gas, there’s a little bit of
reluctance to raise taxes when the administration and Legislature
know how people are struggling. I hear from people in my district
who are working just to put gas in their cars.”
Scarnati said the actions the Legislature took last year –
including no new taxes and restrained spending – have placed
Pennsylvania in relatively good position to weather any financial
shortcomings.
“There will be no tax increases this year and spending will be
limited,” Scarnati said, “and that’s because of the fiscal policy
we put in place.”
With that said, a large roadblock remains in place in order to
arrive at fiscal harmony – how to properly fund education.
“That is a major part of the (budget) negotiations this year,”
Causer said. “We need to make sure all of our schools receive
adequate funding. If they aren’t, sooner or later residents will
have to deal with a local property tax increase to make up the
difference.”
The matter is of particular importance to rural lawmakers. While
the Bradford Area School District is in line to receive a 6 percent
hike in basic education funding this year, the nearby Forest County
school district will garner a total of ,36,000 over six years under
the governor’s proposal.
“It’s a slap in the face to rural school districts,” Rapp said,
adding the matter is made even worse with the uncertain fate of the
federal Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act,
which provides funding to school districts and townships from
timber receipts from the Allegheny National Forest. The act has yet
to be reauthorized in its current format.
The local Science in Motion program is also in need of
funding.
“We need to make sure they are funded in this budget,” Causer
said.
Scarnati said the Legislature also needs to settle on
transportation and energy plans.
