By Susanna Ray
Herald Writer
OLYMPIA – Some people won’t be affected by changes in the $22.5 billion state budget that the Legislature has agreed upon.
But they are few and far between. Those who don’t have children, have already completed their education, don’t spend much time in outdoor recreation, don’t know any state employees, don’t drink alcohol, don’t make enough money to support themselves, aren’t in danger of being laid off, and live in safe neighborhoods probably won’t notice anything different this year.
For everyone else, changes are afoot, warned Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, budget writer for the House Democrats.
Sommers and her colleagues were charged with plugging the state’s $1.5 billion budget hole within the 60-day legislative session, which ends tonight barring a last-minute breakdown that would send legislators into a special session.
The state already was heading for financial problems due to the soaring costs of health care, voter-approved tax cuts and spending requirements, and the effects of the national recession, Sommers said. Then the events of Sept. 11 “severely impacted” the dire budget predictions.
So legislators have decided to cut more than $600 million from the spending plan, use up $325 million in emergency reserve money, add $142 million in new revenue and borrow $450 million against the state’s portion of the national tobacco settlement money. The House was expected to pass the already agreed-upon plan late Wednesday night so the Senate can take the final vote today.
But it’s a mostly Democratic agreement, taking advantage of the party’s slim majority in both chambers. Democrats voted to temporarily suspend Initiative 601, which voters passed in 1993, to allow them to raise taxes without needing a two-thirds vote in the Legislature.
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Republicans criticized that move and said the plan isn’t fiscally sound.
“It’s irresponsible credit-card spending,” said Rep. Barry Sehlin, R-Oak Harbor, the House Republican’s chief budget negotiator. “It’s described by the Democrats as being all these painful cuts, but you know how much less it is than the budget passed (last year)? Two hundred ninety-eight million dollars. And $298 million does not represent drawing blood.”
The two-year budget legislators passed after months of overtime in 2001 was $22.8 billion. This budget is $22.5 billion.
Sommers and Sehlin did agree on one thing: Local governments will be the hardest hit.
Cities and counties paid for much of their law enforcement with money from the motor vehicle excise tax. After the passage of Initiative 695 led to the elimination of that tax in 2000, the state stepped in to provide backfill money. This year, legislators said local governments were on their own.
“At a time when public security is at the top of everyone’s list … every citizen in the state of Washington is being put at risk by that (cut),” Sehlin said.
Lawmakers did agree to distribute $5 million to 19 of the state’s poorest counties and $8 million to 134 cities that were hit the hardest, including the Snohomish County cities of Brier, Darrington, Gold Bar and Mountlake Terrace.
In education, legislators plan to eliminate one training day for teachers and slash $24 million from the $36 million Better Schools Fund, among other program cuts.
Higher education will be harder hit. Community colleges will be slapped with a 2 percent across-the-board cut and universities with a 5 percent cut. They’ll be allowed to raise their tuition by 12 percent to 16 percent, but that increase wouldn’t make up for the cuts, Sommers said. She expects colleges to reduce their admissions.
Legislators did add 1,500 extra slots for community colleges to accept laid-off workers who need retraining, Sommers said.
More than 1,600 state employees will lose their jobs, including nearly 600 college and university workers and five State Patrol employees. The Legislature is cutting back on its staff, too, by 14 positions. Lawmakers did decide, however, to allow state agencies to hire nearly 700 people, mostly to help with the increased caseload in social services and corrections.
State workers also won’t be getting the cost-of-living pay raises they had hoped for, and they’ll be asked to start paying an average of $5 a month more for their health insurance.
Some state parks will close to save $2 million in operating and maintenance costs.
Other reductions include a 5 percent trim in the Legislature’s spending and 3 percent from state agencies.
The gloom didn’t spread to everyone it had threatened, however.
The $72 million in funding cuts to nursing homes was completely restored. And the state library was spared and will be merged with the Secretary of State’s Office, rather than being closed as Gov. Gary Locke proposed.
Legislators were still working out the kinks Wednesday in a plan to get $142 million in extra revenue.
The money will probably come from a 5 percent increase in the sales tax on liquor, participation in the interstate Big Game lottery, hiring more auditors to catch tax evaders and closing a couple of tax loopholes for out-of-state companies. Plans to add a Keno lottery game or not repeal the estate tax were most contentious and were still being debated Wednesday, along with a less likely proposal to raise the tax on beer and wine by 6.6 percent.
You can call Herald Writer Susanna Ray at 1-360-586-3803 or send e-mail to ray@heraldnet.com.
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