Posted on 06/05/2011 1:13:17 PM PDT by Libloather
Pennsylvania Politicians Say State’s Surplus Should Be Put In Reserve
June 4, 2011 4:00 AM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) - Pennsylvania’s top fiscal watchdog, a Democrat, is siding with the Republican governor and the state House GOP in saying most of the half-billion dollar surplus in the current budget should be put in reserve.
Pennsylvania revenue collections are $540 million dollars above projections for the current fiscal year. But due, in part, to the loss of federal stimulus money, drastic cuts have been proposed for the next budget. State House Democrats invoke Global Insight, an economic consulting firm, saying that Pennsylvania is clearly on an “upward swing” as they argue for using the surplus, to mitigate some of those cuts. But Auditor General Jack Wagner, also a Democrat, pointed to a Wall Street Journal headline blaring dark economic news as he argued for the opposite…
**SNIP**
Wagner says Pennsylvania’s fiscal obligations and liabilities “dwarf” the surplus.
(Excerpt) Read more at philadelphia.cbslocal.com ...
Pa. schools hold more than $3B in reserve funds
HARRISBURG — Schools across Pennsylvania hold more than $2.8 billion in reserve funds, but legislators and school boards disagree about whether the money can be spent to buffer against proposed state government cuts this year.
The reserve funds are divided into two categories — designated and undesignated. The undesignated funds are not committed to any planned project. Designated funds and any other funds, such as capital reserves, are allocated to specific projects, such as new buildings.
Normally I would say give the people back their money but in the current situation we are in I would say keep it as a reserve. I know that that will be hard as politicians tend to spend anything they got on hand, and then some.
How did Pa. lose what money and when?
It’s not buying votes when its just sitting there.
Yes, like the federal stimulus money has no limit, an endless supply of cash!
BTW, since the NFL is in lockout, is it the players or the owners that should be compensating the cities they grafted tax dollars from to build new stadiums? Seems to me the money grubbing team's owe tax payers for reneging on playing every season.
Municipal and state budgets need to have a surplus. Most places recommend a surplus of about 12%. Better to have a surplus to 20%. This is NOT overcharging but to be able to cover bills during slack times of revenue collection. I don’t know what the total budget is for PA but the reserve needs to be able to cover 2-4 weeks of bills, minimum. Preferrably 8 weeks.
At the local level, you need something like that just to cover rougher winters. One extra big snowstorm can cost a lot.
Still, they need to cut more spending. If it isn’t infrastructure repairs or keeping prisons filled, then it needs to be cut.
Keep it in the bank PING!
ping
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