Well, it only took 101 days, but the embarrassing annual folly known as the Pennsylvania budget process is over.
Now it’s time to pick through the carcass of the smoldering ruins of what passes for legislative action in Harrisburg.
Gov. Ed Rendell should be happy, and not just because he managed to put his John Hancock on the fiscal blueprint and still manage to whiz down the Turnpike in plenty of time to take his seat on the Eagles Post-Game Show yesterday.
Rendell wants his legacy to be that of the “education governor.” This budget won’t hurt that at all. The governor dug in his heels and fended off any attempt to cut education funding. Spending on education actually will rise, not an easy thing to do in these economic times.
There also is not wide-scale income or sales tax hike, aside from letting Philadelphia temporarily hike its sales tax to alleviate its own budget crunch.
The arts community should be rejoicing in their ability to beat back a wildly unpopular move to add the state sales tax to tickets to concerts and shows, as well as admissions to museums.
Probably not as happy will be folks down at the state Department of Community and Economic Development, which saw their budget whacked by
$707.9 million, and boosters of the state Department of Environmental Protection, which is looking at a 27 percent cut.
Among those unhappy is Delco state Rep. Greg Vitali, D-166, one of the state’s biggest environmental activists. Vitali believes the spending play will result in dire environmental harm across the state.
But perhaps the biggest effect of the new budget is to clear the way for table games to be added to the state’s new slots parlors.
The Senate has already signed off on the deal. The House is likely to do the same this week. The move is expected to add $200 million a year to the state coffers, including a $15 million license fee that will be slapped on casinos for the right to offer poker, blackjack and roulette.
There’s something troubling about the state’s increase reliance on what very often is its own residents’ heartache in building a budget on money from legalized gambling.
Then there’s the idea that business at some of the new slots parlors, in particular Harrah’s in Chester, has been off for some time now.
Maybe table games will spark business. Then again maybe it will just ruin more lives.
Our representatives in Harrisburg did their best to run the state into the gutter over the past three months, as they again looked no less than foolish in putting together a spending package.
For better or worse, it’s now done.
Maybe they should start on the next one now. Maybe then they might actually have a spending plan in place when they’re supposed to, on July 1.
What do you thin the chances of that happening are? As they say more and more in this state, don’t bet on it.
Now it’s time to pick through the carcass of the smoldering ruins of what passes for legislative action in Harrisburg.
Gov. Ed Rendell should be happy, and not just because he managed to put his John Hancock on the fiscal blueprint and still manage to whiz down the Turnpike in plenty of time to take his seat on the Eagles Post-Game Show yesterday.
Rendell wants his legacy to be that of the “education governor.” This budget won’t hurt that at all. The governor dug in his heels and fended off any attempt to cut education funding. Spending on education actually will rise, not an easy thing to do in these economic times.
There also is not wide-scale income or sales tax hike, aside from letting Philadelphia temporarily hike its sales tax to alleviate its own budget crunch.
The arts community should be rejoicing in their ability to beat back a wildly unpopular move to add the state sales tax to tickets to concerts and shows, as well as admissions to museums.
Probably not as happy will be folks down at the state Department of Community and Economic Development, which saw their budget whacked by
$707.9 million, and boosters of the state Department of Environmental Protection, which is looking at a 27 percent cut.
Among those unhappy is Delco state Rep. Greg Vitali, D-166, one of the state’s biggest environmental activists. Vitali believes the spending play will result in dire environmental harm across the state.
But perhaps the biggest effect of the new budget is to clear the way for table games to be added to the state’s new slots parlors.
The Senate has already signed off on the deal. The House is likely to do the same this week. The move is expected to add $200 million a year to the state coffers, including a $15 million license fee that will be slapped on casinos for the right to offer poker, blackjack and roulette.
There’s something troubling about the state’s increase reliance on what very often is its own residents’ heartache in building a budget on money from legalized gambling.
Then there’s the idea that business at some of the new slots parlors, in particular Harrah’s in Chester, has been off for some time now.
Maybe table games will spark business. Then again maybe it will just ruin more lives.
Our representatives in Harrisburg did their best to run the state into the gutter over the past three months, as they again looked no less than foolish in putting together a spending package.
For better or worse, it’s now done.
Maybe they should start on the next one now. Maybe then they might actually have a spending plan in place when they’re supposed to, on July 1.
What do you thin the chances of that happening are? As they say more and more in this state, don’t bet on it.
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