Senator: Budget may be near
With a dose of optimism, state Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-21st, said Friday that a state budget deal could come by the end of this coming week.
While the deadline to pass a state budget was June 30, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-controlled legislature have not been able to agree on a spending plan for the 2015-16 fiscal year.
Wolf in March initially proposed a $33.7 billion budget, which greatly increased spending compared to budgets under previous Gov. Tom Corbett, and included increased taxes.
Hutchinson said there are “major philosophical differences” between Wolf and the Legislature, and they have to work out those differences.
Because Wolf is in his first year in office, his limits are being tested.
“Usually, when there is a new governor, the first budget is the hardest. That’s what we’re going through right now,” Hutchinson said.
The senator was in Butler to speak at a Leadership Butler County event, and he talked about the budget after that.
He noted that the Legislature passed a budget before June 30. It had 400 line items, and Hutchinson said that 274 of them were funded at the same level or higher than Wolf’s initial budget proposal. However, Wolf vetoed the entire budget.
“Historically, that would not have happened,” Hutchinson said.
He said the state’s taxes should not go up this year.
However, he said the “handwriting is on the wall” that taxes are going to go up, but he said no one is sure which ones. He said increasing the sales and income taxes are two of the major proposals.
Hutchinson said he is worried about the sustainability of budgets that increase spending and increase taxes. He said when taxes go up, spending goes up too, and in a few years, the state is in a deeper financial hole.
Hutchinson said there are some programs that have been funded in the past, but have not spent all the money given to them. He said that some of that money can transfer to other agencies to help balance the budget.
But he said, “The governor does not want to do that.”
This week the state Senate passed its own, $30.8 billion budget. This plan included a $1.2 billion tax increase but no one is saying yet what taxes would be increased. It also increases public school and social services aid. Wolf has said he would sign this budget.
Hutchinson voted against this plan, and was the only senator representing Butler County to do so. He said the plan was too unsustainable.
“It’s too big,” Hutchinson said.
Then the state House passed a different, $30.3 billion budget plan, which has a proposal to add a $1-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes and has a smaller increase in public school and social services aid.
Hutchinson said there are aspects he does not like about the House’s plan, but said it is better than the Senate’s plan.
Rep. R. Lee James, R-64th, voted in favor of the House’s plan.
“We passed a budget bill that would invest in our students and schools without further burdening Pennsylvanians with a broad-based tax increase,” James said in a statement.
