Dec 30, 2015 2 min read

A story that appeared in this newspaper Wednesday reported reactions were extremely mixed to Gov. Tom Wolf’s decision to veto large portions of a state budget presented to him by the Republican-controlled Legislature before Christmas, while at the same time releasing emergency funds to schools and social service agencies that will allow them to function once 2016 dawns in a couple of hours.

A mixture of relief and frustration is justified: relief entities that educate our children and help the least advantaged among us will carry on with their important work; frustration, of the most teeth-grinding variety, that the budget stalemate has lasted as long as it has, and that it is still unresolved, even if the commonwealth’s toes are no longer exactly at the edge of the precipice.

Dr. James Walsh, superintendent of Burgettstown Area School District, explained the infusion of state aid means the district will not have to borrow $4 million in order to keep operating. But, he pointed out “this is only for the time being. We need a real budget in place … We need our state leaders to get back to it.”

Yes, we do.

Just think, a budget proposal for the 2016-17 fiscal year will have to be put together within weeks. And we shouldn’t feel any more optimistic that that budget, never mind the one that is still unfinished, will deal with the issues that most bedevil the commonwealth, such as a snowballing pension crisis, state-run liquor stores long in need of privatization and whether energy companies that planted a flag in Pennsylvania thanks to the natural gas boom should pay a severance tax comparable to those levied in other states.

The new year should be a time for optimism, but when it comes to the shenanigans in Harrisburg, a sense of gloom and uncertainty is wholly justified.