Today is June 17. The deadline for Pennsylvania to have a budget in place is midnight the night of June 30. That’s less than two weeks away.
What do you think the chances are that legislators and the governor will sign off on a spending plan by then? Yeah, I think Harrah’s would give you odds on that happening.
Ed Rendell is no stranger to this dance. This is his eighth – and final – budget. None of the previous seven have been done on time. Last year, you might remember, the process dragged on for 101 days, with state workers laid off and crucial services going wanting.
Here we go again.
Yesterday the editorial board had a visit with some people who know all too well what is at stake. They are with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Budget Coalition.
When they arrived I asked them what we should fear most, another long budget standoff, or the spending plan that is eventually put into place.
They kind of smiled. Nervously. I don’t blame them.
The budget doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Here’s the problem.
Revenue is down, to the tune of more than $1 billion.
That leaves two basic ways out of this mess, cutting costs or raising taxes.
Rendell is pushing to preserve another big boost in education funding in the state. After all, he wants to be recorded as the “education governor.” He, along with House Democrats, are pushing a package of tax hikes, in particular removing some loopholes, slapping fees on cigars and smokeless tobacco, which are currently exempt, increasing the cigarette tax, and enacting a tax on extractions from the gold mine of the Marcells Shale region.
Republicans don’t want to raise taxes at a time when the economy is just showing signs of life. That leaves cuts. But they’re not saying what they would cut. In fact Democrats have challenged them to say just what they would cut.
Yesterday, Rendell challenged legislators to stay in Harrisburg until a spending plan is approved.
House and Senate leaders appeared ready to at least consider the idea.
Rendell also is again reminding anyone who will listen that he still could be forced to lay off thousands of government workers if the federal government does not free $850 million due the state. So far it is bottled up in the Senate.
The folks who visited here yesterday know all too well what is at stake.
They are aware of the inverse relationship to services and revenue.
When revenue declines, as is the case across the state now, the need for their serves actually goes up.
But the money is not there.
Whether it will be there on June 30 is anyone’s guess.
I would take the over. As in past the July 4 holiday.
Brace yourself. It’s going to be a bump ride. Again.
What do you think the chances are that legislators and the governor will sign off on a spending plan by then? Yeah, I think Harrah’s would give you odds on that happening.
Ed Rendell is no stranger to this dance. This is his eighth – and final – budget. None of the previous seven have been done on time. Last year, you might remember, the process dragged on for 101 days, with state workers laid off and crucial services going wanting.
Here we go again.
Yesterday the editorial board had a visit with some people who know all too well what is at stake. They are with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Budget Coalition.
When they arrived I asked them what we should fear most, another long budget standoff, or the spending plan that is eventually put into place.
They kind of smiled. Nervously. I don’t blame them.
The budget doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Here’s the problem.
Revenue is down, to the tune of more than $1 billion.
That leaves two basic ways out of this mess, cutting costs or raising taxes.
Rendell is pushing to preserve another big boost in education funding in the state. After all, he wants to be recorded as the “education governor.” He, along with House Democrats, are pushing a package of tax hikes, in particular removing some loopholes, slapping fees on cigars and smokeless tobacco, which are currently exempt, increasing the cigarette tax, and enacting a tax on extractions from the gold mine of the Marcells Shale region.
Republicans don’t want to raise taxes at a time when the economy is just showing signs of life. That leaves cuts. But they’re not saying what they would cut. In fact Democrats have challenged them to say just what they would cut.
Yesterday, Rendell challenged legislators to stay in Harrisburg until a spending plan is approved.
House and Senate leaders appeared ready to at least consider the idea.
Rendell also is again reminding anyone who will listen that he still could be forced to lay off thousands of government workers if the federal government does not free $850 million due the state. So far it is bottled up in the Senate.
The folks who visited here yesterday know all too well what is at stake.
They are aware of the inverse relationship to services and revenue.
When revenue declines, as is the case across the state now, the need for their serves actually goes up.
But the money is not there.
Whether it will be there on June 30 is anyone’s guess.
I would take the over. As in past the July 4 holiday.
Brace yourself. It’s going to be a bump ride. Again.
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