Gov. Ed Rendell says the state's 2006-07 budget, which was approved by the General Assembly Saturday and signed by the governor early Sunday morning, is "a terrific budget for the people of this commonwealth."

It won't be until next year that state residents will learn whether the $26.1 billion spending plan, which hikes spending 5.8 percent over the 2005-06 budget, will require a bigger bite out of taxpayers' wallets and pocketbooks.

This year it won't.

Republicans believe the budget will have negative fallout next year, including Rep. Brian Ellis, R-11th, who called the new fiscal year's spending package "an election year budget that will be paid for with tax increases next year."

But Ellis didn't just criticize the Democratic governor and Democrats in the legislature by way of a partisan diatribe. He criticized the Republican-controlled legislature for knuckling-under to Rendell.

"The General Assembly once again played into the hands of the govenor," he said.

If the state does avoid money problems next year, as Rendell's optimism over the weekend seemed to suggest would be the case, the chief executive's budget efforts will be deserving of praise. There are a number of good things about the budget that must be acknowledged at this juncture.

Education fares well under the budget. Public schools will get a basic-education subsidy increase to the tune of about 6 percent. There is a 3 percent increase for special education.

Spending for community colleges, a category of spending that is important to Butler County, will increase by 5 percent. Likewise, the budget increases spending by 5 percent for the 14 state-owned universities in the State System of Higher Education — of which Slippery Rock University is a part.

Meanwhile, spending for the Head Start program for youngsters from low-income families is being increased by 33 percent, to $40 million.

And, outside of education, the budget includes an expansion of prescription drug coverage for senior citizens, money for hiring additional state troopers, and tax cuts for businesses. Additionally, subsidies for mass transportation are being hiked by 2 percent.

One legitimate area of concern is the fact that the new budget delays until next year $300 million in reimbursements to health-care providers for treating the poor and elderly.

"My fear is that the administration is setting taxpayers up for a huge bill down the road — a bill that will require tax increases to pay for," said Sen. Bob Robbins, R-50th.

"The governor could have finally made good on his many empty promises over the years to reduce the size of state government," said Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th. "Not surprisingly, he has chosen to sign into law a budget that expands the welfare rolls rather than the budgets of working Pennsylvania families."

But if that's the case, some of his Republican colleagues in Harrisburg are as much to blame for the spending plan as Rendell, and Metcalfe should make it a point to acknowledge that when he assails the governor for the budget that now is law.

"I believe the budget could have been pared down to reflect a modest increase while setting aside additional money in the Rainy Day Fund," said Rep. Dick Stevenson, R-8th.

Additional money in the Rainy Day Fund always is a good investment.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann's reaction to the budget was predictable, as well as absent of substantive insight into what he would have done if he were the state's chief executive.

"You've heard me say that government can't solve all of our problems, but it can be an important catalyst for change," Rendell said.

The final verdict on the new budget will be written in 12 months or so.

The fact that the new budget is $1.4 billion higher than the 2005-06 spending plan is not in itself bad. It will only be bad if the governor and legislature misread the Pennsylvania financial picture that lies ahead.