A $32.2 billion budget proposal from Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday that struck a conciliatory tone left many state legislators representing Butler County feeling optimistic, they said Monday afternoon.

But with the governor proposing more than $2 billion in government cuts and cost-saving efficiency measures, as well as broadening Pennsylvania’s sales tax and imposing an extraction tax on Marcellus Shale production to help support $1 billion in new spending, many Republicans said it was still too early to say how heavily the spending plan will be modified by legislators.

Rep. Jeff Pyle, R-60th, who serves on the House’s Appropriations Committee, said the governor’s proposal had “good bones,” and called it the most agreeable proposal by a governor he’s seen during his time in the General Assembly. Pyle said he came away from Monday’s address thinking that Wolf’s proposal was “probably 85 percent of the way there.”

“It’s got solid structure to it,” Pyle said. “Out of 12 budgets (I’ve been in office for) I felt better about this one than I have about any of them.”

Not all legislators representing Butler County echoed Pyle’s praise. Many called themselves “optimistic” about the tone of budget negotiations this year, but still found fault with various proposals floated by Wolf on Monday.

Rep. Tedd Nesbit, R-8th, praised the governor for emphasizing his commitment to finding a solution to the state’s opioid crisis, but criticized Wolf’s renewed push for an extraction tax on Marcellus Shale production.

“I think the extraction tax is a horrible idea,” Nesbit said. “Butler County has done well with the impact fee. And especially with the market down, we need to encourage companies to locate to our area, not discourage them.”

Nesbit said he also was concerned about Wolf’s proposal to combine the state’s departments of Corrections and Probation into one agency, saying he wasn’t sure how it would affect members of his constituency in Mercer and Venango counties — neither of which have their own probation departments and rely upon the state.

Wolf’s push to consolidate state agencies and trim bureaucracy found fans with many Republican legislators.

Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-21st, who is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he was pleased that Wolf’s address on Monday dwelled on cost-cutting and making government more efficient.

“Whether I agree with the (measures) the governor is submitting or not I’m not sure yet,” Hutchinson said. “But that general concept is a good start.”

Still, Hutchinson said he was concerned about proposals to expand the state’s sales tax and institute an extraction tax on Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale industry — something Republicans in the General Assembly have resisted for nearly a decade.

“I think the taxpayers want us to live within our means. They don’t want more taxes. They want a more efficient government,” Hutchinson said.

State Rep. Brian Ellis, R-11th, who is the chairman of the House Commerce Committee, called on the Republican-dominated General Assembly to hold agencies and programs accountable, and allocate funding according to the results they produce.

Wolf also proposed an $8.5 million increase for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, a network of 14 schools which includes Slippery Rock and Clarion universities.

Rep. R. Lee James, R-64th, said he wants the governor to consider more funding for the state system, which requested $76 million in new money for the 2017-18 fiscal year, which begins June 1. James said subsidies to the state-owned schools should take precedence over funding channeled to other institutions of higher learning.

James also said he supports Wolf’s proposal to charge residents of municipalities without local police coverage a fee of $25 for their use of Pennsylvania State Police, calling it “a bargain.”

The administration said Monday the fee would generate $63 million for the next fiscal year.

The governor also proposed steep cuts to the state’s agricultural spending, which drew concern from both Nesbitt and Sen. Elder Vogel, R-47th, who is the chairman of the senate Agriculture Committee.

Vogel pledged to review Wolf’s proposed 24 percent cut to the state’s agriculture budget. He also wants more information on a 29-year lease-back proposal for the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex — a move that Wolf said would net a $200 million upfront payment.

Sen. Don White, R-41st, who is the chairman of the senate Banking and Insurance Committee, called Wolf’s remarks “a good address; the best I’ve heard over his three (budget addresses),” but added that it was “long on ideas ... but short on details.

White said he wasn’t convinced that the $1 billion in new spending proposed by the governor was the right call, given Pennsylvania’s festering public pension crisis — a state of affairs he said is costing hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Wolf did not address the issue in his remarks Monday. The state’s pension system is struggling to pay down an unfunded liability that passed $60 billion in December.

“Once again it looks like he wants to kick the can down the road (on pensions),” White said.

Other state legislators remained unconvinced that Wolf’s proposals were the right way forward for Pennsylvania.

Freshman Rep. Aaron Bernstine, R-10th, pledged to “remain vigilant” for government waste and excess, and said the state must “do things differently” if it wants to improve economic conditions.

“We must first look at ways to cut spending and invest taxpayer dollars only in the most vital government services if we want to move Pennsylvania forward,” Bernstine said.

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, who is the chairman of the House’s State Government Committee, called Wolf’s remarks on Monday a “debacle.”

“The governor’s unfulfilled promises of not increasing broad-based taxes or somehow generating additional savings by reshuffling executive agencies mean absolutely nothing until they are paired with substantive spending reductions,” Metcalfe said. “I will continue to oppose any budget that calls for increased taxes, irresponsible spending and the confiscation of billions more from taxpayers’ pockets.”