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"We went through an exercise in this year's budget that, in my 10 years in the Legislature, we have never gone through," Scarnati said. "We went through the budget line by line, over and over again.
In advance of Gov. Ed Rendell's budget address Tuesday, Scarnati said, "We don't need new programs, or increased spending. We don't need great policy initiatives. We need to keep the ship afloat without any major tax increases. If it requires more cutting, we need to cut. "We need to balance the budget on the backs of the bureaucrats and not on the backs of working families.
"It's going to be another battle," he said.
"The real problem we have is that 75 percent of the budget is corrections, education and public welfare," he said. "Unless we're going to make fundamental changes to sending people to prison or begin cutting public education on the state level, property taxes will go up locally.
The state pension "bubble" is another cause for concern.
"The Senate has contracted with Price Waterhouse to review the pension issue, not only to value the assets that are there, but to make specific recommendations," Scarnati said. "Right now we have a defined benefit plan in every school district and state workers. How do we sustain that? I don't believe we can sustain the program we have now. We have to make changes.
"The public is going to demand these changes," he said. "There is a bill associated with this pension bubble. There is a cost to it. We can smooth the costs and that is what has happened in the past. It is really time for some leadership.
While costs are increasing, revenue is not.
"Even with January's revenues we are somewhere between $450 and $475 million in the red at this point," Scarnati said.
Several billion dollars of federal stimulus money helped avert a deeper budget deficit, but that money will not be there next year. "It was a short term fix for a long term problem," he said.
Scarnati sympathizes with the plight of county government, but doesn't believe Harrisburg can provide the answers.
"The counties are mandated to have programs but the level is their discretion," he said. "They did pretty well in the budget overall this past year. We were very sensitive to the needs of MH/MR, (mental health and mental retardation), and the various social networks that counties provide.
"The counties want us to raise taxes to take care of their needs. Taxpayers don't want an income tax increase at the state, county or local level. That's what these Tea Parties are all about. People have had enough. The fraud and abuse is everywhere," Scarnati said. "It isn't pretty.
"Those who are opposed to making these hard decisions are for a tax increase. If legislators, school districts and state employees aren't in favor of making some hard changes, then we are looking at massive, massive tax increases," he said.
"More and more people are coming to the state House opposed to everything. They never have a solution. They are opposed to tolling Interstate 80 but don't have another solution; they are opposed to raising taxes but they don't have another solution; they are opposed to the pension fix, but don't have another solution," Scarnati said. "It's great way to run every term but I don't know how they intend to make our Commonwealth any better."
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By Randy Bartley, Jeffersonian Democrat editor. E-mail rbartley@thecourierexpress.com.
