Don't do today what you can put off until tomorrow.
That's the philosophy the state Legislature appears to be applying to fix a $527 million tax revenue shortfall in the budget. Legislative leaders on Monday announced a deal that is short on solutions and long on stalls, putting off until another day any difficult decisions on the state's fiscal problems.
The good news politically for lawmakers is that most taxpayers (voters) won't be affected by the deal, which comes in advance of November elections. The bad news for taxpayers is that future budget decisions will become only more difficult.
There are no increases in general or sales taxes, and a hospital tax that was brought back to the table by Gov. Jim Doyle was not included. There would be only a $69 million cut in state government services, though it's not clear where exactly those cuts would be made.
The agreement, expected to be approved by the Assembly and Senate this week, would allow for road work to progress as planned this summer.
So how would the Legislature accomplish filling the gap between budgeted tax revenues and actual collections? Mostly by nearly depleting reserves, delaying payments and taking a cash advance.
Hardly a bold fix.
The state would delay $125 million in school aid payments, pushing those funds into the next budget. And it would deplete its reserve funds to next to nothing, taking $97 million now and leaving only $25 million. Finally, the state's tobacco settlement bonds would be refinanced to cash in $209 million now.
Deeper, tougher spending cuts wouldn't have been politically popular, but are necessary to counter dwindling tax revenues in a struggling economy. Instead, lawmakers opted for the easier solution by playing a financial shell game.
Perhaps they're hoping they've bought time until the economy improves and the state has more money available. Who reading this expects that day to come anytime soon?
That's the philosophy the state Legislature appears to be applying to fix a $527 million tax revenue shortfall in the budget. Legislative leaders on Monday announced a deal that is short on solutions and long on stalls, putting off until another day any difficult decisions on the state's fiscal problems.
The good news politically for lawmakers is that most taxpayers (voters) won't be affected by the deal, which comes in advance of November elections. The bad news for taxpayers is that future budget decisions will become only more difficult.
There are no increases in general or sales taxes, and a hospital tax that was brought back to the table by Gov. Jim Doyle was not included. There would be only a $69 million cut in state government services, though it's not clear where exactly those cuts would be made.
The agreement, expected to be approved by the Assembly and Senate this week, would allow for road work to progress as planned this summer.
So how would the Legislature accomplish filling the gap between budgeted tax revenues and actual collections? Mostly by nearly depleting reserves, delaying payments and taking a cash advance.
Hardly a bold fix.
The state would delay $125 million in school aid payments, pushing those funds into the next budget. And it would deplete its reserve funds to next to nothing, taking $97 million now and leaving only $25 million. Finally, the state's tobacco settlement bonds would be refinanced to cash in $209 million now.
Deeper, tougher spending cuts wouldn't have been politically popular, but are necessary to counter dwindling tax revenues in a struggling economy. Instead, lawmakers opted for the easier solution by playing a financial shell game.
Perhaps they're hoping they've bought time until the economy improves and the state has more money available. Who reading this expects that day to come anytime soon?
