May 1st, 2009

When Governor Rendell announced his budget proposal in February it was based on a projected deficit of 2.3 billion dollars, but now with April’s revenue numbers about to come out that number could be far off.  House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dwight Evans staff is predicting that deficit will hit at least $3 billion.  Evans is to release a $29 billion budget bill in the House today, based on Rendell’s plan, reports The Patriot-News.

“Do we need to make decisions that are painful? Absolutely,” he said. “But we recognize that when we make cuts, we simply shift the burden to the counties, the cities, school districts, churches and charities.”

Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, the Appropriations Committee chairman, has said he will introduce a bill that trims state spending to about $27.5 billion. Spending any more in 2009-10 would be “budgetary malpractice,” he said.

Read more about this in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.