Pennsylvania's Constitution requires that a state budget be in place by June 30, but the General Assembly usually ignores this mandate. According to PoliticsPa, only four of the past dozen budgets have been adopted on time. There's no rush because legislators and state employees can still look forward to their paychecks. The spice still flows. But starting soon, the spigots will be turned off at school districts, local governments and with nonprofits.
Governor Josh Shapiro has trimmed his budget spending from $51.4 to $49.9 billion, but that was a week ago. At this point, the failure is irresponsible. How hard is it to have a budget that funds agencies investigating child abuse or school districts that educate our most valuable resource?
NorCo Council will tonight consider yet another nonbinding resolution calling on the state to do what it should have done by the end of June.
21 comments:
The budget process is far too politicized now, the Republican Senate doesn’t really have strong ground to talk fiscal responsibility when the state has so much in surplus, but Dems are attempting to spend more than the state should in some areas, Shaprio also looks like he’s not capable of being a leader for the first time in his tenure. But that’s also kind of why the Republican Senate would do this. All that is nonsense and will hurt people from every corner of the state. But for the love of god can someone, anyone point out that our state has a Racehorse development fund that we waste almost 200 million on each year! So again the money is almost always there but political non sense and special interests will always get in the way. Go Birds!
Start voting incumbents out of office or require that legislators receive no pay if a budget is not passed.
Another toothless virtue signaling resolution from Northampton County. Will Warren introduce it with his standard long winded self-praising speech?
Same shit, different year. Nobody cares in either party.
Shapiro wants to be president. He’s not showing much leadership here. I’m disappointed.
I see SEPTA is mentioned. Why is the hell do we keep giving them money only to lose it? Why not audit them? I googled SEPTA losing money and the below came up. What company loses almost a billion dollars and gets more money consistently? This is a total joke.
Operating deficit without subsidy: In 2019, before the pandemic, SEPTA's expenses exceeded its fare revenue by nearly $893 million
Norco council quit wasting time and resources on another useless resolution. Do some real work. Do your jobs. You are no better than the state do-no-gooders.
Bunch of bums on both side of the aisle. The shame is that they get away with it just because they can.
8:02: the counties where SEPTA operates generate WAY more state revenue than the "taker" counties. You are not "giving" them anything. Maybe you should use the Google machine (and its "tubes") to get more comprehensive information. Who the hell do you think pays the state funding that goes to rural programs like pigeon shoots? It sure ain't you. Also, SEPTA, LANTA and other transit systems are not companies, they are a public service that generates benefits for ALL Pennsylvanians, even if you don't personally use public transit, because they help to fuel economic activity that continues to generate more state revenue than is produced by the broke ass counties who want PA to fund THEIR priorities and not the needs of the producer counties. So, before running your mouth about something that you know nothing about, maybe you should do some basic research.
This is the best advice anyone can suggest to help bring an end to poorly performing political bodies. We must be willing to switch out our representatives quickly. Send a message that you don't get to make a long career of this. If you want to stay more than one term . . . you need to perform at a high level.
Shapiro is a cynical coward who was absolutely terrified to debate in the last election. Now, he's terrified of losing Philadelphia votes by those who wish SEPTA to stop losing a billion dollar per year. He's no leader. He's a cynical coward who's afraid of a tough question. This budget is a campaign tool to feed an addict (SEPTA) more drugs.
Public transport is not designed to make money, any more than the highways are designed to make money. Both of these items are highly subsidized as public goods because they allow people to get where they want to go. Gas taxes do not cover the cost of roads and bridges, and if that true cost were passed on to only the users of roads, you'd have a $15 toll to get from Fogelsville to New Smithville.
I'm not saying SEPTA is run especially well, and I'm sure there is waste but the idea that the fares should 100% fund the cost of the service is ludicrous. Think about the benefit of all of those people NOT using cars and causing additional traffic in metro areas.
Sadly I agree with you. The only time they know you is at election time. They ignore the law and it's okay, because it's all about politics and has nothing to do with serving the people that they purport to serve.
Term limits!
He's a phony!
only 2 are worth their weight- the rest are terrible, with the worst being Keegan & Warren!
With brownstain being the governors calculator we can only contemplate the set aside monies for family and friends. We all will not find that document in any of the pages of the pa budget.
Resolutions!! Toothless, and good for nothing but political posturing. A paragraph of wasted vocabulary words that have little to no influence to move a large item like the PA budget into gear.
When will we learn?
Lucky we still have a country with this incompetent and some our corrupt so-called leaders
Democrats will never nominate Shapiro. You all know why?
Why are democrats holding the rest of the budget hostage because of SEPTA funding?
Fund public transit at last year’s level, pass the budget, then argue over the increase without affecting other important services. When they reach agreement, do a budget amendment.
Only in Harrisburg and Washington is this considered rocket science.
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