The average Pennsylvanian may not notice, but the commonwealth has lost the ability to spend money.
While that may elicit cheers from certain sectors, the lack of a state budget does have consequences.
Of course, the situation is hardly new. This is the seventh straight year Pennsylvania has failed to meet the June 30 deadline to craft a spending plan for the coming year. All of them have been during the administration of Gov. Ed Rendell.
We suppose it’s no surprise the trend continued this year. After all, the current world economic crisis has stressed the commonwealth’s finances, requiring tough decisions in terms of taxes and spending. If the state can’t come up with a timely budget during reasonably good economic times, what chance did it have now?
But we find ourselves wondering how seriously Harrisburg’s leadership approached this matter. Publicly, precious little has happened in terms of the budget.
While Rendell has crafted multiple rounds of cuts over the course of the year — in an effort to stem the tide of red ink — Pennsylvania is still looking at a budget deficit of around $3 billion.
And it wasn’t until June 16 that Rendell got around to proposing a 16 percent increase in the state’s personal income tax, from 3.07 to 3.57 percent. Is that really when he came up with the idea?
Yesterday Rendell advised Pennsylvanians not to expect a new budget soon, as he and legislative leaders hold discussions. But the governor and lawmakers are just now going through the budget line by line. Isn’t it a little late in the game to be doing that?
Meanwhile, nothing much has happened with the budget in the Legislature. The Republican-controlled Senate passed a no-tax budget that was more show than substance. House Democrats haven’t done even that.
In a sense, the lack of timely action on the budget, year after year, symbolizes the quality of leadership in Harrisburg. A disciplined, accountable operation wouldn’t allow this to happen.
And these are the guys who — a few years ago — thought they were deserving of a big pay raise on top of their regular cost-of-living increases.
The most immediate impact from Pennsylvania’s missing budget will be state employees who continue working, yet will receive no paychecks. The low-interest loans Harrisburg is helping to arrange for these employees won’t be quite the same thing.
And, as the budget delay drags on, the pain could be felt elsewhere — as state aid to municipalities dries up. Even private businesses may be impacted, if they are in the practice of selling goods and services to a government that can no longer pay its bills.
Eventually, some sort of compromise will be reached and Pennsylvania will have a new budget. We hope the people of the commonwealth remember that serious budget discussions weeks and months ago would have produced a timely spending plan.
Editorials
EDITORIAL: Hapless Harrisburg
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Postal service’s financial woes not of their own making
It’s no secret that the U.S. Postal Service is experiencing financial troubles. One of the consequences of a deficit in the billions of dollars soon will become apparent in New Castle, when the city’s mail processing facility on Cascade Street is shut down.
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Our Opinion: UPMC, Highmark tangle for dominance. But what about the public?
Health insurance recipients in western Pennsylvania received some good news recently. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Highmark Inc., the two local behemoths of the insurance and health care industry, reached an agreement to extend their contract with each other. The 18-month extension will be good through 2014.
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Our Opinion: Annual Jack Butz Award honors community involvement
During his lifetime, Jack Butz was known as someone who donated much to the community. And even now, years after his passing, Butz continues to give. We refer to the annual Jack Butz Award, where a local citizen is recognized for his or her contributions to New Castle and the surrounding area.
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Our Opinion: Why would New Castle weaken architecture standards?
There are times when communities must decide what they want to be. For New Castle, one of those times is arriving later this month. New Castle City Council is considering changes to the municipal zoning ordinance that will have the effect of seriously weakening standards for the North Hill Historic District.
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Our Opinion: A box from 1914 says something about the past — and today
The former Elks building in downtown New Castle was demolished months ago, but one bit of business remained. And city officials addressed that last week, when a time capsule from 1914 was opened.
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Our Opinion: Awareness campaigns protect generations of children
The first step in solving a problem is recognizing that it exists. That was a major factor behind the recent Walk for Justice at Cascade Park, organized by the Crisis Shelter of Lawrence County.
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Our Opinion: Secret Service scandal symbolizes breaches of public trust
There are a couple of pieces of good news regarding the Secret Service sex scandal. The first is that an investigation has determined the women hired as prostitutes by Secret Service agents in Columbia apparently were just that.
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Our Opinion: Municipalities save money with shared services
In difficult financial times, finding ways to use tax dollars more efficiently is an essential government task. That’s why we were pleased to learn that Shenango Township and South New Castle Borough have agreed to share police services.
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Our Opinion: State politicians use campaign funds in criminal cases
If you want to wage a spirited defense against criminal charges, you need money. A good attorney, after all, isn’t cheap. But if you are an influential elected official in Pennsylvania facing trial, this problem comes with a ready solution. All you have to do is tap into your campaign funds.
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Our Opinion: Resignation in Neshannock highlights leadership issue
With Neshannock Township now seeking a new manager, we hope the supervisors have learned something from their experiences so far. That’s because their efforts to date on selecting a manager for the municipality haven’t gone very well. Ironically, the questionable practices and decision-making displayed by the supervisors demonstrate the need for sound management in the township.
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Postal service’s financial woes not of their own making
