The LuLac Edition #1502, March 8th, 2011

PHOTO INDEX: GOVERNOR TOM CORBETT AND LT. GOVERNOR JIM CAWLEY AT THE GOVERNOR'S BUDGET ADDRESS.

SLIMMING DOWN

Governor Tom Corbett announced his first budget of his term today and as widely expected, the new leader of the Commonwealth is putting Pennsylvania on a diet.
Corbett proposed $27.3 billion in spending is , a decrease of about 3 percent from this year's budget. The plan operates on the assumption that improving state tax collections will help produce a surplus of more than a half-billion dollars by the end of the current year. With that anticipation in mind, Corbett expects growth by 4 percent next year.
"The substance of this budget is built on four core principles: Fiscal discipline, limited government, free enterprise and reform," noted Corbett before a packed gallery in the State Capitol as he addressed a joint session of the General Assembly.
Corbett essentially told the Legislature that there was no money in the budget for WAMS. (Walking Around Money). “It isn’t in there” proclaimed the Governor as he observed members of the Assembly thumbing through the budget plan.
Education, the cornerstone of the Rendell administration took the biggest hit. It was a wide spread cut that went from kindergarten to universities. the governor proposes cutting about $550 million, or 10 percent, from money for instruction in K-12 public schools and eliminating all $260 million in grants that are being given this year to school districts to invest in learning, including pre-kindergarten, full-day kindergarten and class-size reduction in kindergarten through third grade.
He advocates spending cuts of about $625 million — more than 50 percent — for the 14 state-owned universities in the State System of Higher Education, plus Pitt, Temple, Penn State and Lincoln.
In a move that will surely get a rise out of the Teacher’s Union, Corbett sought to eliminate state support for teachers' advanced degrees.
State Libraries got a 1.9 percent cut. That is significant because under the Rendell administration the libraries in the last 2 budgets were cut by more than 35%. So in a strange sort of way, a loss was a win.
Corbett wanted the local school boards to not raise property taxes above the rate of inflation and said he wanted a referendum for those districts who wanted to raise taxes so that the decision stayed with the tax payer and not the government. Corbett made no apologies for his embracement of the Marcellus Shale oil drillers. He told the General Assembly that he wanted Pennsylvania to be the new Texas and envisioned an era of economic dominance for the Keystone State by stabling the Commonwealth as the national hub of the oil drilling industry.
To that end, the new Guv tabbed Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley to head a 30-member Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission with a mandate to develop proposals addressing the impact of gas drilling on the economy, local communities and the environment within 120 days of its first meeting. "Let's make Pennsylvania the Texas of the natural gas boom," said Mr. Corbett
Corbett, urged the formation of a panel to study privatization of government services, including the Liquor Control Board and the state system of selling wine and alcohol. It's among many functions currently being done by government that Corbett said he'd would like to examine to see if it would be better and more cost-effective in private hands.
Thanks to revenues from oil leasing to drillers, Pennsylvania’s state parks and state forests was one of the few items spared the agony of Gov. Tom Corbett’s day of fat trimming.
The State Police also got a bit of an increase with Corbett saying that the safety of the residents of the State is paramount and that this year alone he authorized two new training classes.
To recap, the new budget cuts government spending by 3 percent, most of which is done by consolidating programs, targeting inefficiencies and reducing or eliminating discretionary financial grants.
Corbett proclaimed, “I'm proposing something we haven't had in a long time: a reality-based budget. To the people of Pennsylvania, the taxpayers who sent us here, I want to say something you haven't heard often enough from this building: We get the picture. It's your money. The electorate, its trust scraped to the bone by lies and half truths, isn't going to stand for another broken promise. I said we'd cut. I'm not asking you to read my lips. I'm asking you to read my budget."