Budget+Woes+Reign+Over+Pow-wow

=By Jeremy Boren= =//Published in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review//= =//4/9/11//= = = = = =Gov. Tom Corbett said he doesn't have all the answers 70 days after taking office, but he became well-acquainted Friday with questions about state budget belt-tightening.= ="Do you have any long-term or short-term solutions to fix the (Port Authority)?" Allegheny County Councilman Nick Futules asked during Corbett's stop at the Allegheny League of Municipalities' conference at Seven Springs Resort.= ="No, not at the moment," Corbett said, prompting laughs from some of the 293 delegates at the conference. "Give me a little bit of time. Let's be frank, I could B.S. you. I don't want to do that. I'm looking for $4.3 billion. The transportation fund is largely dependent upon the revenues that we receive."= =The exchange and reference to the state's $4.3 billion budget deficit was one of several in which the Shaler Republican defended cuts he proposed to education and health care that many municipal officials believe could ultimately push townships, boroughs and school boards to raise taxes.= =Corbett acknowledged that could happen. "Economic furloughs" at districts might be needed, he said, and he's backing a bill that would require, without exception, a voter referendum to approve tax increase proposals beyond the rate of inflation.= ="Let the people in the district decide whether they want to fund a continuing increase of the school district (spending)," he said.= = Jill Salopek, a Steel Valley School District teacher from Munhall, told Corbett, "Low-income districts are already at their bare essentials." She urged him to consider how cuts to education would unfairly burden districts such as hers. = = Corbett said his proposed cuts to balance the state budget are only a "starting point" in negotiations with the Legislature. = = "We did this in six weeks. Now we have a month or two to work with them," he said. = =The specter of difficult economic times and looming budget cuts affected how municipal officials approached the conference this year, which began Thursday and ends Sunday. Instead of multiple officials, some places sent only one representative, including Brentwood, Collier, Moon, Sewickley, Stowe and Pittsburgh, according to a delegate list.= =Many delegates are commuting to conference events instead of tapping taxpayers to pay for hotel rooms, said organizer Nancy Barylak of the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority.= =The cost to attend from Thursday to Sunday is $596, she said, which includes meals and a chance to mingle with 50 companies such as law firms, cable TV providers, investment managers and engineering consultants.= =Delegates could opt for shorter, less expensive packages, she said. Asked why the conference is held in Seven Springs, Dick Hadley, ALOM's new executive director, said it's a tradition that predates his tenure.= ="We're trying to be partners in this fiscal crisis. We're not at the table saying, 'Can you give us more money?' We're saying help us do our job more efficiently, so we don't have to raise taxes," he said. "Those are the kind of solutions that people come here for, I think."= = = = Read more: [|Budget woes reign over pow-wow - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review] [] =

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