Pennsylvania faces dire budget crisis — again

More than 80 days into the new fiscal year, state officials are still bickering over a $32 billion spending plan.

Some of our state legislators spent this long, languorous weekend enjoying the last days of their summer vacation.

That’s right, our fine elected representatives in Pennsylvania will head back to work at the state Capitol in Harrisburg today.

It’s not as if the state faces any pressing issues or anything.

When we last left you on Friday, an increasingly perplexed Gov. Tom Wolf was moving to withhold payment on nearly $1.2 billion in payments to Medicaid providers.

It’s not that the governor holds any grudge against the crucial program that delivers health care to the state’s neediest children, elderly and the disabled. It’s that the state is flat broke. Next up is a $581 million payout for the state’s share of the massive pension plan heaped on the two large public employee pension plans.

And if a resolution is not reached soon, funding for the state’s universities, schools and roads may wind up on the chopping block.

That’s what happens when you pass a state budget but don’t bother to implement a funding package to pay for it.

That is the situation the state has been in since July 1, when the Legislature beat the deadline for having a state budget in place but could not agree on a way to pay for it.

Not much has changed in the two and a half months since – except for the state’s credit rating being downgraded once again.

The Senate was first to sign off on a funding package. They held their noses and signed up on a wide variety of tax hikes – although not the two big ones. They avoided hiking either the personal income or sales taxes. They did, however, with Delaware County Sen. Tom McGarrigle, R-26, leading the charge, finally enact a severance tax on the state’s natural gas industry. Wolf backed the Senate plan.

But despite the fact that Republicans control majorities in both the Senate and House, there was a problem. Conservative Republicans in the House believe tax hikes are nothing short of anathema. They rejected the plan developed by their GOP colleagues in the Senate.

Most people thought House and Senate leaders would then sit down and hammer out a funding plan. That didn’t happen.

Finally, as a new deadline loomed, the House Republicans managed to pass – by a single vote – a funding plan that does not raise taxes, and again bypasses any new levy on the state’s natural gas business. Instead, they have decided to borrow a bunch of money, expand legal gaming in the state, and raid what they are referring to as “surpluses” in various department budgets.

Many transit and education officials believe the move could cause serious cuts in state services. So now what?

The Senate went back to work Monday. After holding up the Medicare payments Friday, Wolf indicated he would work through the weekend to get the two sides together.

The state was bailed out once when Treasurer Joe Torsella managed to push through a new line of credit. But Torsella said he would not do that again.

This is pretty much business as usual for Harrisburg. Wolf has now presided over three budget processes.

None of them has been pretty, two of them have been delayed, one of them dragged on for months. The situation is dire. People are going to be hurt. Crucial transportation projects could be derailed.

We’re past the point of saying the state needs new, fresh ideas and a new method of leadership.

That ship has sailed. Now it’s just a matter of simple needs – the state needs a spending plan and a funding mechanism in place. Summer is over, folks. It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get back to work. And deliver a budget. Before the state goes off the fiscal cliff once and for all.

If a resolution is not reached soon, funding for the state’s universities, schools and roads may wind up on the chopping block.