| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2010 11:43 pm |
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Local News 
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Competing rallies in Olympia differ on how to balance state budget OLYMPIA – Thousands of people descended upon the Capitol on Monday demonstrating for and against raising taxes to lift the state from its budget morass.About 2,500 people wanting government spending slashed in order to balance the budget filled the Capitol steps in the morning. An hour later, a crowd roughly twice the size packed the steps and spilled into the street with participants calling on lawmakers to find new revenue to preserve funding for schools, jobs, medical care and human services. Gov. Chris Gregoire made clear it’s going to take both to plug the $2.8 billion hole in the current budget. “While I wasn’t out there, I’ve heard every message that I’m sure was delivered today,” Gregoire said Monday afternoon. “No new revenue. No cuts. I’ve come down to a balanced approach of there will be cuts and there will be revenue.” She took a tiny step in that direction Monday signing three new laws trimming a thin slice of spending from the current budget. She said she will put forth a package of revenue-raising measures “in the next couple days.” Those bills, part of what majority Democrats called their ‘early cuts’ legislation, extends a wage freeze for nonunion state workers, ends bonuses for state employees and imposes limits on travel, purchases and hiring that will net about $46 million in savings. A fourth bill in the package to furlough state workers is stalled in the House of Representatives. Gregoire has proposed covering the deficit using reserves, transfers from lottery and other funds, $1 billion in reduced spending and about $780 million in new or higher taxes. Some Democrats in the House and Senate have said they want to raise more than the governor, which is what participants at Monday’s larger rally also demanded. Teachers, health care workers, state employees and elementary and college students took part in the demonstration organized by the Rebuilding Our Economic Future coalition. Justin Fox Bailey of Snohomish, a teacher and leader of the Snohomish Education Association, drove down to be one of the handful of speakers. “Education is the reason we need to raise revenue,” he said as the crowd roared its agreement. In an interview, he said more cuts will devastate public schools; already there is growing anxiety as employees worry about layoffs and fear larger class sizes will cause the quality of education in classrooms to deteriorate. While he didn’t specify a means of generating the revenue, he said what is chosen needs to be marked for education. “If they will rationally discuss what it will take to raise the money then we’ll be willing to stake our jobs on helping them get it,” he said. A couple hours earlier during the first rally organized by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, Terresa Hobbs of Oak Harbor insisted the Legislature can balance the budget and fund schools adequately by spending more wisely. “It’s not that we’re against taxes. Everybody knows we need to pay taxes for the legitimate uses of government,” said Hobbs, who is coordinator of the Whidbey Island Tea Party. But government is pouring money into enlarging social programs that it “shouldn’t ever be in, and then they come to us screaming for more money for education, public safety and the things they should have been spending on in the first place.” Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com. The first cuts House Bill 2921 signed into law Monday will cut about $45 million in state spending through June 30, 2011, by eliminating jobs and reducing funds for programs in nearly every agency. Also, with certain exceptions, the law bars state agencies from creating new positions, filling vacant jobs, entering into personal service contracts, buying equipment priced greater than $5,000 and paying for out-of-state travel. |
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