Senate+approves+state+budget

= By **Brad Bumsted** = =// Published in the Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW //= =//6/28/11//=

= = = = =HARRISBURG -- The Republican-controlled Senate today approved a $27.14 billion state budget that doesn't raise taxes and cuts spending by 4.2 percent, affecting programs from charter schools to universities and welfare.= =The bill, approved 30-20, now goes to the House as lawmakers race to meet a deadline of midnight Thursday, set by state law. The House will probably vote on the plan Wednesday, said House Republican spokesman Stephen Miskin.= ="Governor Corbett came into office in probably the most difficult time of any governor in the history of Pennsylvania," said Senate Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman, R-Centre County. The projected deficit totaled $4.2 billion.= =Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County, called it "a fiscally responsible, sustainable budget." It comes in a transitional year, with billions in federal stimulus gone, and in an economy in which Pennsylvania families are struggling, Pileggi said.= ="This year marks a return of a state budget paid for with state revenues," Pileggi said.= =It's a departure from the historic pattern of state government raising taxes during a recession, said Corman.= =But Democrats blasted the budget. "Make no mistake, this is one really ugly budget before us today," said Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton County.= =Democrats said it would force universities to raise tuition and result in school property tax increases.= =The cuts were unnecessarily harsh, they said, because Republicans weren't willing to spend most of what they called a "surplus" of almost $700 million in the current year's budget.= =Corbett says it's not a surplus since there are hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding state obligations.= =Charles Zogby, Corbett's budget secretary, said $200 million of the unanticipated revenue would be spent in the budget plan.= = To curb property tax increases, Corbett reiterated today that he wants passage of a bill that would require voter approval for school property tax increases above inflation with limited exceptions. = = "The people I represent did not just fall off a turnpike truck," said Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park. "If you cut basic education and funding universities, they know they'll be faced with taxes at the local level, and property tax increases will be devastating." = = Boscola said this will always be known as the "Marcellus shame" budget since there are now no plans to tax Marcellus shale natural gas extraction. = = That decision leaves "hundreds of millions of dollars" on the table, Ferlo said. = = "We let the industry off the hook one more time," said Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia. = = Read more: [|Senate approves state budget - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review] [] = = = =News= =home=