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Rendell: State budget deal likely won't come soon
Associated Press
HARRISBURG - State budget negotiations dragged on Tuesday during the final hours of Pennsylvania's recession-plagued budget year, as Gov. Ed Rendell and Republican leaders each signaled no breakthrough was in sight.
"I don't expect to get it done this week or even possibly next week, but I expect we can get this done," Rendell said. "The numbers are the numbers. We can't change them. They can't change them."
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Rendell has proposed a mixture of cuts and an array of higher taxes - including a three-year, 16 percent jump in the personal income tax - while Republicans are focused on spending cuts and firmly oppose any tax increase.
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, a lead negotiator, said the state should spend less in the coming fiscal year than in the 2008-09 budget year that ended Tuesday.
"The governor will not accept that premise and instead would like to review individual spending lines to come to a total of spending through that process," said Pileggi, R-Delaware. "We think it's an upside-down process."
Rendell said he was "not a proponent of playing the blame game," then attacked lawmakers for contributing to the steady growth in state spending during his tenure.
"Five of the six years that I've been governor, the budget that I sent to the floor of the Legislature has come back greater - higher in spending - than the budget I sent," Rendell said.
The governor also said 10 banks and credit unions have agreed to help 69,000 state employees who may soon experience payless paydays by offering them low- or no-interest loans and lines of credit.
Budget talks are particularly difficult this year because Pennsylvania has an estimated $3.2 billion revenue shortfall for the current year and a similar gap to fill for the 2009-10 year.
Rendell has said that so much of the state's spending is linked to federal mandates or required for other reasons that cutting alone will not eliminate the deficit. Along with the income tax proposal, Rendell has suggested new or higher taxes on retail sales, tobacco, health premiums and natural gas extraction.
"I believe our proposal is fair and equitable," Rendell said. "It's the best balance."
Rendell said he and legislative negotiators went through 358 of about 700 budget lines Monday, and that process was expected to resume later Tuesday.
Senate Republicans appeared en masse at a Capitol news conference Tuesday afternoon to accuse Rendell of using scare tactics and urge the Democratic-controlled House to pass a budget bill.
The GOP-controlled Senate passed a no-tax-increase budget bill on strict party lines in May, with spending cuts that generated a torrent of criticism from Rendell and other Democrats as well as dire warnings from organizations and entities that get state funding.
"While all sides will receive blame, it's important to note that the Senate is the only chamber that has even passed a budget," said Senate Majority Whip Jane Orie, R-Allegheny. "And, as a reminder, that was 55 days ago."
State workers will not be furloughed, but they will receive only partial pay on July 17 and July 24, after which paychecks will be withheld entirely until the impasse is solved. They will then be paid retroactively.
Companies that do business with the state also may have to wait until a budget is in place before they will be paid.
The state's welfare checks, debt payments and pensions will continue to be sent out. Agencies such as the Liquor Control Board, which is self-funded, will not be affected. State parks will not close immediately, and many highway projects, paid for in the 2008-09 budget, will continue.
: 7/1/2009
I love reading how 69,000 people won'tbe getting paid until the budget is passed but is always followed by welfare checks will go out as usual. The working class gets screwed again while theres how many people screwing the system. Gotta love the great state of PA
