Politics & Government
Budget battle begins with PA facing $300M deficit
Higher education likely to be targeted for increasing funding
HARRISBURG — Higher than anticipated revenue for April leaves Pennsylvania with a smaller deficit heading into the two months when the new state budget will be hashed out.
Though all projections indicate a revenue deficit at the end of the year, the state will be in better shape than Gov. Tom Corbett’s mid-year forecast of $719 million. The slight change of fortune has led to lawmakers calling for increased spending in the proposed fiscal 2012-13 budget, though Corbett urged caution this week.
Tax revenue for April was about $100 million more than projected, according to the state Department of Revenue, leaving tax collections for the year about $290 million short of estimate. The new Independent Fiscal Office projected that the state would be about $300 million in the red when the fiscal year ends.
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Democrats slammed the governor for underestimating the state’s revenue.
“There is now no question that there will be far more available dollars to restore key budget lines that support job creation, education, safety net programs and investments for the future,” said Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny.
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Corbett on Wednesday said the state is still facing a deficit.
“What I’m going to look at is sustainability into the next year,” Corbett said.
Lawmakers plan to add money into the budget for higher education, where Corbett called for significant cuts for the second consecutive year.
Corbett has called for a 20 percent cut to the State System of Higher Education, which operates 14 colleges in Pennsylvania including East Stroudsburg, West Chester and Shippensburg.
The governor’s budget also includes a proposed 30 percent state funding cut for three of the four state-related universities — Penn State, Pittsburgh and Temple — though those schools are more than 90 percent privately funded.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle — including state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee,and one of the most powerful men in the budget process who also happens to hail from the home of Penn State — have called for a restoration of those planned funding cuts.