Category: Pennsylvania Budget

Governor Wolf Handshake Dishonorable

Governor Wolf Handshake Dishonorable by Sen. Scott Wagner

Governor Tom Wolf delivered his 2016-2017 budget address for Pennsylvania, Feb. 9.

The Governor’s budget address was delivered on the back of an unfinished 2015-2016 budget.

Governor Wolf did not mince words when he placed all of the blame for the  2015-2016 budget mess on House Republicans.

I must confess that I was taken back by the Governor’s comments and arrogance – during his budget address he made this statement to PA House Members – “If you won’t take seriously your responsibility to the people of Pennsylvania – then find another job.”

The Governor directed blame towards the House Republican Leaders for the budget impasse.

Governor Wolf stated, “We had a deal. And then the House Republican leaders walked away.”

How ironic – I had a similar personal experience with Governor Wolf.

On Dec. 20, I attended a holiday Open House at a home in Southeastern PA  – Governor Wolf showed up at the Open House – after a brief period I was approached by a Democratic Senator to ask if I would have a discussion with the Governor – a discussion took place with another Republican Senator, the Democratic Senator, the Governor and me.

I was asked if I would help the Governor and consider talking to Republican House Members that I have relationships with about the budget and help bridge the gap.

I agreed to meet with the Governor and the other two Senators on Tuesday – Dec. 22 – I asked the Governor to clear three hours of time so we could have the discussion and come up with various resolutions – the Governor looked me in the eye, shook my hand and said “we have a deal.”

When we arrived on Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. for our meeting at the Governor’s office, I immediately sensed that something had changed – the Governor commented that he had another meeting in 35 minutes – so much for the three hour hand shake deal.

Governor Wolf Handshake Dishonorable
His handshake can’t be trusted

The Governor was quick to let me know that he knew that I was focused on reining in out of control spending – he stated, “I have to get this budget done and then next year in January we can meet to discuss spending controls” – January has come and gone – no call from the Governor – in the private sector business world when someone shakes my hand and says we have a deal, I take that gesture as a gesture of honor – Governor Wolf broke that gesture of honor.

My prediction is that Governor Wolf is going to play the same hostage game as he did last year with schools and non-profit agencies.

Yesterday afternoon (Feb. 11) a mass email was sent by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party to readers kicking sand into the faces of  Republican House and Senate Leaders, two other House members, and myself for saying no to Governor Wolf’s tax increases.

I can only speculate that as a child Governor Wolf was picked on at his elite boarding school – little rich bullies run up and kick sand in the other kids faces and run away – Governor Wolf is attempting that same technique with the legislature and then running to his public sector union friends to defend him, and then asking them to give him millions of dollars collected from their members paychecks to fund negative TV ads and mailers in Republican House and Senate Districts slamming those members, and now yesterday’s email blast directed towards leaders and members of the legislature because they didn’t vote for his tax package.

Governor Wolf has quickly driven a wedge into any relationships that might have been possible with House and Senate Republicans – to be clear – Governor Wolf has gone toxic – and he has burned many bridges and may have lost any opportunity to have a positive outcome with his remaining time in office.

It is also worth pointing out that most Democratic House and Senate Members do not want to vote for any tax increases either  – these same Democrats are being thrown under the bus by their own Democratic Governor – many Democrats will secretly agree with my assessment but their leadership is keeping them in line with intimidation tactics.

I have a different perspective of the budget and the Pennsylvania economy – very different from the perspective of Governor Wolf.

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I along with other Senate colleagues, both Democrat and Republican, will begin to participate in budget hearings over the next six weeks with all state agencies.

I have an advantage coming from the private sector – I continue to operate several business so I get to see first-hand the current business climate.

I continue to see massive amounts of waste and out of control spending in Harrisburg – if you have been regularly receiving my emails you will know I have not changed my opinion on this.

Many businesses in Pennsylvania are laying off employees because of weak business conditions.

The oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania, and the rest of the country, has been clobbered because of historic low oil and gas prices – the ripple effect to suppliers and service providers of the oil and gas industry have also been affected.

Click here for one example: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-air-products-posts-quarterly-earnings-20160129-story.html

Governor Wolf and his administration have not delivered any sizable cost reductions or efficiency savings over the last year – Governor Wolf cares about one thing – raising taxes on Pennsylvanians.

It is time to “Restructure Harrisburg” – the time is now, not next week, next month, or next year.

The bad news is that Governor Wolf will not do any “Restructuring” while he is office – so the next three years are going to be tough for everyone – especially Pennsylvania Taxpayers.

Sen. Wagner represents the 28th District in the Pennsylvania Senate.

 

Governor Wolf Handshake Dishonorable

New Wolf Budget Also Burdens Little Guy

New Wolf Budget Also Burdens Little Guy By Matthew J. Brouillette

Yesterday, Feb. 9, Gov. Wolf doubled down on his tax-and-spend agenda. Here are five facts you need to know about how Gov. Wolf’s budget would affect your family and our state:

1. It’s more of the same. Wolf’s proposed budget mirrors what he repeatedly offered—and lawmakers repeatedly rejected—last year: Massive tax hikes and record spending increases. Wolf New Budget Also Burdens Little Guy

2. It’s the biggest spending increase in 25 years. Wolf’s $33.3 billion General Fund budget (including pension payments) represents a 10% increase over the budget passed by the legislature in December and is the bgigest spending increase since 1991-92.

3. Wolf’s tax hike = $850 more per family four annually.

4. Wolf’s budget includes $1.1 billion more for public schools, on top of the record-high level of funding passed by the legislature in December. This comes with no accountability measures and with punitive cuts to public charter schools.

5. At least eight different tax hikes are in the budget. This includes an 11% personal income tax hike—retroactive to January 2016 (in other words, you already owe the state more taxes).

Wolf talked about ‘saving’ the taxpayers of Pennsylvania. Instead, he’s taxing us backwards and forwards.

Join us in telling Gov. Wolf, “Please, no more taxes!” Get all the budget facts—and a catchy decal—over on our site at Commonwealth Foundation.

Matthew J. Brouillette is president and CEO of Commonwealth Foundation.

Wolf New Budget Also Burdens Little Guy

Structural Deficits Can’t be Fixed By Tax Hikes

Structural Deficits Can't be Fixed By Tax HikesStructural Deficits Can’t be Fixed By Tax Hikes by Leo Knepper

On Feb. 9, Governor Wolf will offer his annual budget address.

Despite being unable to force the legislature to raise taxes to cover a laundry list of campaign promises, Wolf will demand that the government spend even more money in his second budget address. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Governor Wolf has been a broken record when it comes to calling for spending more money. How it makes sense from Wolf’s perspective to demand more spending and simultaneously insist that we have a “structural deficit” is anyone’s guess. If there were a structural deficit, the rational thing to do would be to cut spending. Considering the odd juxtaposition of demanding more spending and claiming a deficit, it was a smart move on his part to avoid the ironic humor of offering his budget address on Groundhog Day.

The Governor will likely offer a vision of the next budget filled with rainbows and unicorns for everyone. He is unlikely to offer any concrete plan to pay for it, outside of calling for one group or another to pay their “fair share”. For his 2015-2016 budget, Wolf singled out the natural gas industry as the source of nearly limitless tax revenue; at least, that is how he presented it. Thankfully, the legislature did not fall into this trap. All of the states who rely on severance tax revenue to meet their regular budget needs are in an incredible bind as the result of the collapse in the price of oil and gas. All of the other tax proposals that Wolf offered to pay for his spending binge were ultimately rejected by the General Assembly.

One way to streamline the budget process this year would be for the House and Senate to do something unusual for the government. Typically, the legislature has decided how much money it was going to spend and then scramble to determine who has to come up with the money to pay for it. This is the opposite of how things are done in the real world. This year the General Assembly should determine how much money is available first and then decide how to spend it. Families do this all the time, that is why they generally have food to eat but may not be able to take a vacation. The Governor and General Assembly would be smart to follow the same example.
Mr. Knepper is executive director of Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania.

 

Structural Deficits Can’t be Fixed By Tax Hikes

Wagner Describes Budget Reality

Wagner Describes Budget Reality — For those who missed state Sen. Scott Wagner’s interview with Robb Hanrahan on CBS21’s Face the State, Sunday, it can be found here or below.

Wagner Describes Budget Reality
Sen. Scott Wagner

Wagner is an excellent legislator and the interview is worth watching.

“If there is anything that I want to say today, that I want people to hear, we have a pension crisis. It’s a $60 billion crisis,” Wagner told Hanrahan. “We have no way of getting out of that crisis. We cannot change benefits for people in the system. Constitutionally, we cannot do it. Yeah, we can try. It will go to the state Supreme Court and get kicked back.”

Obviously, the Senator has looked into the matter. What likely motivated him do so was this revelation he reported back in May that there were those in the state getting $400,000-plus public pensions.

We would like to point out that whatever ink has been placed on paper by politicians working corruptly with lobbyists enough wind caused by cold, honest anger can blow those words away.

And yes, someone with a $477,591  pension– that’s you former Penn State president Rodney Erickson — asking a family with an income of $45,000 to bail him out, is something to be coldly and honestly angry about. It is the epitome of immoral indifference and injustice. It is something you would think would be more fitting of a French nobleman circa 1788 rather than an American.

By the way, Gary Schultz of Jerry Sandusky scandal fame has a publicly guaranteed pension of $330,699. Yes, working guy and gal, the powers-that-be want you to cover it.

We would like to also point out that the mild pension reforms being pushed by the decent Republicans in the legislature such as Wagner and which have been shot down time and again by the not-so-decent powers-that-be do not concern existing pensions and would be unarguably constitutional.

Also in the interview, Wagner said that Pennsylvania’s true spending is about $99 billion of which the widely discussed general fund budget consists of  about $31 billion or less than a third.

Wagner described the state’s twisted budget process in which department heads expect automatic increases of up to 5 percent and say their funds have been cut if the hike is less. The commonsense business practice that Wagner advocates is reviewing for places were cuts can be made and existing funds better allocated.

Wagner noted that the state government is filled with what he termed “Swiss bank accounts” some of which are called Ledger 5 funds and are accessed at the discretion of the governor.

“There’s not a lot of transparency,” Wagner said. “. . . I asked our appropriations staff have we ever asked what what’s in those accounts.”

The staff said that they had asked.

So how did the governor reply?

“We never got an answer,” he said.

Wagner said he filed a “right to know” request 30 days ago and he is still awaiting a response.

Wagner said that among the money Gov. Wolf cut when he finally signed a budget on Dec. 29 was about $6 million for critical access hospitals, which are small 25-bed or less hospitals that serve rural districts and are now endangered.

“The Governor has $6 million in his grocery account,” Wagner said.

For some reason, though, he is holding these rural hospitals hostage.

“If these hospitals close, where do the people go?” Wagner said.

Wagner Describes Budget Reality

 

Fiscal Code Bill Sneaks In Spending

Fiscal Code Bill Sneaks In SpendingFiscal Code Bill Sneaks In Spending — State Rep. Russ Diamond (R-102) is one of the good guys. He explains on his Facebook page why he voted against the final version of HB 1327 which made changes to the state’s fiscal code.

“This bill, HB1327, passed the House unanimously the first time around, when it was a small tweak to the fiscal code regarding investments by the State Workers’ Insurance Board,” he said. “But after the Senate loaded it up, I was forced to vote against it on concurrence.”

Commonwealth Foundation notes the final passage includes 45 earmarks that funnel more than $40 million to “lobbyist priorities.”

For instance one earmark gave  $450,000 “to a multimunicipal revitalization organization in a county of the sixth class with a population, based on the most recent Federal decennial census, of at least 68,000 but not more than 70,000 for sidewalks and repairs associated with downtown revitalization.”

Another $1,500,000 earmark is set aside for “a physician practice plan serving a health system located in a city of the first class and a contiguous county of the second class A which did receive funding during fiscal year 2014-2015.”

Fiscal Code Bill Sneaks In Spending

 

Wolf Ego Wasted 6 Months

By Leo Knepper Wolf Ego Wasted 6 Months

On Tuesday (Dec. 29), Governor Wolf used  his line-item veto on the budget lawmakers sent him right before Christmas. He could have and should have done the same thing back in June. However, he was more interested in holding state funding hostage to apply maximum leverage through the negotiation process.

In his address on the line item veto, Wolf continued to repeat the lie that the budget as passed would result in a cut to education funding. First and foremost, Pennsylvania already has the eleventh highest spending per pupil in the country. The argument that taxpayer need to continue to put up more money without seeing any improved results is absurd. However, that is Wolf’s demand; he is more than willing to play fast and loose with the facts and math to make that happen.

During his press conference announcing his decision to exercise the line-item veto, Governor Wolf continued to repeat the lie that the budget on his desk would cut education funding. In fact, as noted by the Commonwealth Foundation the only “cut” one might be able to identify would be the difference in spending between what the Governor wants and what the legislature sent him. When you compare the 2015-2016 budget to the 2014-2015 budget, this year’s proposed education budget outspends last year’s budget when you look at the totals.

Mr. Knepper is executive director of Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania

Wolf Ego Wasted 6 Months

 

Wolf Whining Explained By Benefield

Wolf Whining Explained By BenefieldBy Nathan Benefield

This morning, (Dec. 29) Gov. Tom Wolf signed the state budget on his desk, using his line-item veto (and item-reduction veto) power to cut the spending by more than $6 billion, targeting certain areas.

Calling the budget “garbage” and an “exercise in stupidity” while lambasting lawmakers because “they ran out of town,” Wolf asked for more compromise, saying, “Let’s get back to work.”

Of course, such overtures are unlikely to improve his relationship with legislative leaders.

So what did Gov. Wolf strike from the budget? Here are some notable cuts from the veto message:

  1. Reducing the “basic education” line item by $3.1 billion. Ostensibly, this provides six months worth of funding and is intended to get lawmakers back to the table. The real difference between the current budget and what Wolf wants is about $250 million in K-12 education funding.As we pointed out this morning, Wolf’s claim that the budget would “cut” education funding by $95 million is a lie. The budget provides a $400 million increase in public school funding. The only item being reduced is for school construction—this isn’t being “cut” but will be funded with state bonds. In fact, that proposal is part of the framework budget too, as you can see from Gov. Wolf’s own spreadsheet.

    The only cut to education is the one Wolf made today.

  2. Reducing Medicaid by $2 billion and Corrections by $900 million. Wolf reduced the line items “Medical Assistance – Capitation” (Medicaid) and “State Correctional Institutions”—also to provide six months of funding.But these reductions don’t make much sense. Is the commonwealth not going to make Medicaid payments after January 1? Will the state stop paying prison guards in the new year? That seems unlikely—these payments have been going out already, even without a budget.
  3. Zeroing out the Public Employee Retirement Commission (PERC). This makes little sense—unless Wolf wants to prevent PERC from issuing analyses of pension legislation, which is a requirement for passing pension reform. Oh…I see what he did there.
  4. $69 million in line-item vetoes in the Department of Agriculture.
  5. $6 million in line-item vetoes and reductions in Community and Economic Development. This includes items the Commonwealth Foundation has identified as “corporate welfare”—we actually had more suggestions for line item vetoes here.
  6. $9 million in line-items vetoes from the Department of Health.
  7. A $31 million reduction for the Senate and $19 million reduction for the House of Representatives. I wonder who he is trying to punish with those vetoes? Wolf also vetoed $14 million from legislative support agencies.

Gov. Wolf did well to release emergency funding for schools and nonprofits. But that’s something he should have done six months ago. Wolf’s own comment, “We’re now at a point where I don’t want to hold the children of PA hostage,” confirms this is exactly what he’s been doing by vetoing the entire budget in June and vetoing subsequent stop-gap measures.

His signing of the budget today releases some of those hostages, for the time being at least. But his punitive vetoes show he’s not yet done playing political games.

Mr. Benefield is vice president of Policy Analysis for the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives.

Wolf Whining Explained By Benefield

James Wigo Bonus At RTM

James Wigo Bonus At RTM — The Rose Tree Media School Board just voted to give Superintendent James Wigo a $6,667 performance bonus. James Wigo Bonus At RTM

Wigo’s base salary is $181,001 — at least as of 2013-14, the most recent record at OpenPaGov.org. Note that does not include benefits like health care or the obscene pension he can look forward to getting.

So why does he need a performance bonus? Is his base compensation package really not enough to ensure top performance?

In the private sector, bonuses are a way of divvying up profits hence they make sense there. They make no sense for non-profit like the Rose Tree Media School District. Wigo is more than — far more than actually — compensated with his base package. We are, in fact, quite confident RTM can find someone who would work just as hard and perform just as well if not better with half of Wigo’s compensation package.

What the RTM Board did was not just pointless — Wigo would have quit if he didn’t get the bounus? LOL — but thoughtless considering Pennsylvania’s budget turmoil. Did you know that RTM gets about 15 percent of it’s $94.76 million budget from the state?

Wigo should — no must — give this bonus back. It’s the only decent thing to do. It’s just a drop in the bucket to this very rich man and it would set an necessary example of leadership.

James Wigo Bonus At RTM

 

Pa Senate Passes No Tax Hike Budget

Pa Senate Passes No Tax Hike BudgetPa Senate Passes No Tax Hike Budget — Matt Brouilette of Commonwealth Foundation  tweeted about an hour ago that the Pennsylvania Senate has overwhelmingly passed a $30.3 billion no-tax hike budget that could be on Gov. Wolf’s desk tonight (Dec. 23). The bill was HB 1460 which was passed by the House on Dec. 8 and and was prime sponsored by Springfield’s Bill Adolph (R-165) . Today’s Senate vote was 33-17.

Matt notes that if Wolf vetoes it it’s $0 for schools. If he signs it it is “record high funding.”

Of course, if he did this back in June when the legislature passed its initial budget it would have saved a lot of aggravation for a lot of people.

Pa Senate Passes No Tax Hike Budget

Budget Deal Killed Again

Budget Deal Killed AgainBudget Deal Killed Again — The Pennsylvania House has adjourned without a final vote on the 2015 budget. Yesterday, Dec. 22, the House voted 100-99 to approve the $30.8 billion spending plan the state Senate passed earlier this month. The approval, however, did not include the extremely mild pension reform demanded by the Senate.

The Senate, to its credit, said that reform is a must.

So, the House adjourned without a vote.

House Majority Leader Dave Reed (R-62) said the House could be called back into session with six hours notice.

Please understand, it is entirely within Gov. Wolf’s power to end the crisis. The legislature passed a budget on deadline in June which did not increase taxes which Wolf vetoed. The legislature has also offered stopgap spending bills, one which Wolf vetoed and the others which he promised to.

Budget Deal Killed Again