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 TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2010 12:07 am |
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Local News 
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Gregoire's budget offers no easy way out of deficit Steep cuts are proposed that the governor says she wouldn’t support. OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday proposed a state budget she said she’d never sign and talked about something she’s said she wouldn’t do — raise taxes.The plan put forth by the second-term Democrat erases much of a $2.6 billion deficit by ending major programs serving the state’s poorest and most vulnerable residents and slashing funds for public schools and college students. It eliminates the Basic Health Plan, a state subsidized health insurance program for 65,000 low-income individuals, and the General Assistance-Unemployable program which provides cash grants and medical care for some of the state’s most destitute. Her proposal drains the pot of financial aid for college students and eats up remaining dollars for smaller classes in public schools. No money is allotted to rural schools through levy equalization and it zaps a slew of programs aiding the elderly and those in foster care. Overall, it rebalances the current budget that runs through mid-2011 by making $1.7 billion in spending cuts and tapping reserves and other government funds to cover the rest. As required by law, it blots out the red ink using only revenues now collected by the state. For Gregoire, it’s too painful a spending plan for the state to live with and for her to sign. “Let me be very clear: I do not support this budget,” she said. “As required by law, it is balanced. For me, it is unjust.” She said she’d issue a second version in early January with her ideas for more revenue. She estimated it would take $700 million to cover programs she wants preserved while still carving $1 billion from government spending. Some Republicans found appealing elements in the proposal. They also wanted to see a budget she preferred as they insist the deficit can be eliminated by changing how government is run rather than by how much it can raise. “It doesn’t look as bad to me as it does to her,” Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, the ranking Republican on the House budget committee, said of the plan. “It certainly looks like this is an opportunity the governor is using to get support for tax increases.” Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, Alexander’s counterpart on the Senate budget writing panel, said he was disappointed to “get a budget that is woefully under-thought-out because at the end of the day she’s going to do a budget looking at new revenue.” Gregoire pledged in two campaigns to not raise taxes. Last year she said any tax increase would hurt the state’s ability to recover from the recession. Yet there she was Wednesday making her case for raising revenue with a string of examples of how individuals, communities and businesses would suffer if all the cuts in her proposed budget were carried out. She didn’t have specifics on how to raise the money. She said she’ll look at closing tax loopholes, ending tax exemptions and possible new or higher taxes. She sounded opposed to increasing the property or business and occupation taxes but willing to consider a boost in the sales tax. A penny increase in the sales tax would raise around $1 billion a year, according to estimates by the Department of Revenue. “I’m struggling with the sales tax. I’m not going to take it off the table, but I’m struggling with it,” she said. Shortly after she finished, teachers, health care workers and those supervising programs for foster children and seniors held a news conference at which they said the proposed cuts would have devastating effects on those they serve. Sandeep Kaushik, spokesman for the new Rebuilding Our Economic Future Coalition, said Gregoire’s budget proposal is unacceptable and would lead to a “veritable tsunami of heartbreak.” Neither he nor any of the 10 people who spoke at a news conference endorsed a new or higher tax. “It’s too early at this point to know what type of proposal and what sum we’ll organize behind and support,” Kaushik said. “There are a lot of options on the table.” Democrats hold the majority in the House and Senate and their leaders have said tax and fee hikes will be debated next session. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said Wednesday she was glad the governor didn’t issue a second budget with specifics. It shows she wants to work with legislators and citizens on a “real plan that gets our votes and her signature.” Brown said she’ll be interested in what does emerge from the governor next month. “It’s clear that more revenue is needed to avoid putting our values, our future and real people at risk,” she said. “The governor has said that this is the first book in a series of two. Like many others, I eagerly await the sequel.” Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com. |
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COMMENTS
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Cutting spending in this way will increase spending at CPS. CPS gets paid by the child they remove and with so many people out of work and stressed out they are already putting in lots of overtime.
How about cutting spending to that useless group of .....
Zif Nab | Dec 16, 2009 4:02 pm | 0 replies | Request removal
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is not any too smart. Not at all. She is doing the ol' bait-n-switch political moves, so transparent an insulting to those of who think about these things even a little bit. She puts out a budget that slashes programs that effect the most young and needy of us, while not at all attempting to reign in the porky programs that she and her friends suckle from. Govenors mansion? Sell it!! All the State employee traveling costs and parking fees? Tele-conference! And use a park-n-ride if you HAVE to fly. (Port of Seattle parking lot employees tell me that the #1 user of their high-priced parking lot at SeaTac are State workers, as they do not have to pay for it.) Uncosntitutional, unaudited and economicaly insane L&I fees that cripple business in this State? (a HUGE reason why Boeing wants to build elsewhere) End it!
These three quick ideas are all long overdue, and not even the tip of the tip of the government spending iceberg. It would be SO EASY to find a billion dollars of stupid spending to cut, and not just community programs for those going to school, out of work, etc.... It is not laziness that causes Christine to miss all this, but her personal greed and lawyering maniputlations. She shows us possible pain, and then can suddenly get new taxes to not "look" so bad.
Oh, back to that leviathan of a bureaucracy, L&I, that forces wicked high insurance rates of all types of businesses AND public offices and agencies: It is true that it has NEVER been audited, not even once, and that there are hundreds of millions of dollars of very suspicious spending behavior happening there every year. It is also true that our Govenors #1 campaign donator/fundraiser was appointed to run L&I. Hmmmmm....
No way can L&I reform not be a part of fixing our State budget and economy, yet Gregoire continues to treat it like a sacred cow. She is a dissaster, and we are idiots for letting her stay in office and get away with these antics.
Ken Cox | Dec 10, 2009 11:33 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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The delay was intentional. She had to show her hand because of state law. She really wished to wait until the Feb. numbers are in so most of the money for this year was spent. At that point she could claim the only way out was TAXES.
The budget crafted by legislature was based upon rosy revenue projections. Not true in May and it won't be correct next May. So we run a budget deficit throughout the budget year, no matter how many times they think they have "corrected it". Look at CA---they are they on their 4th revision, with another deficit of 15 billion staring them in the face!
K Dog | Dec 10, 2009 10:24 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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No Greg,
This is not a sham budget. By law, she has to give a budget that is balanced. That means cuts with no other revenues considered this year.
The income for the state is so bad because we have insisted on having a regressive tax (sales tax) as the state's main source of income. What this does in bad economies is gut revenue. In good economies, it balloons.
What I disappointed about is the budget she proposed is really against the law if you look at the state's constitution. It is the state's paramount duty to fund education. She is again (like everyone else in Olympia) having more cuts to education.
What we need to do is support the transformation to a more progressive tax system so we always have a stable state income and each year we are not having to play games with programs.
Melissa Metzger | Dec 10, 2009 9:52 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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Why would the governor write a budget she would never sign? Even though we know they won't, what if the legislature actually approved it? Would she still not sign a budget she wrote?
She purposely wrote a bad budget just so she could reach deeper in the pockets of every taxpayer in the state.
While the average private citizen pays a bigger share of their healthcare, lose more of our benefits, and for many, their jobs, state employees have no fear. The Governor, the House, and the Senate will make sure that state employees are inulated from those fears.
Businesses are always cutting staffing, cutting benefits, and completly cutting out unprofitable programs. It is time the state to take some of those same steps. Cut entire programs that serve only a very small group of people. Tell the state employees (this includes our elected representatives) to pay more then 12% of their own healthcare like the rest of us.
The remaining taxpayers (individuals and businesses alike) cannot afford more taxes.
George Schlosser | Dec 10, 2009 8:28 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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