Senate Democrats released their proposed operating budget yesterday, cutting $3.85 billion. This includes cuts to education, higher education and human services and would result in the layoffs of 7,000 to 8,000 public sector jobs. Facilities like McNeil Island Prison, Green Hill Juvenile Detention Center and the Yakima Valley School for the Developmentally Disabled are set to close down under the proposed budget due to their high operating costs.
Other key components of the proposal include:
- Using $3 billion worth of federal stimulus money to balance the budget. The proposal would also borrow about $750 million from different state accounts dedicated to construction.
- Raising $138 million by taking away the tax incentives for hybrid cars and for banks when they sell foreclosed properties. It would also add a few new tax incentives, like reducing the B&O tax for newspapers.
- Overall, the proposed 2009-11 budget submitted by the Senate Democrats only decreases state spending by $1 billion compared to the current budget.
It’s a mixed bag proposal. On the plus side, it’s a balanced budget with a fiscally adequate state emergency reserve fund. The budget also consolidates funds into the general fund account. Finally, the Senate did make some hard decisions in this budget with respect to education and social service programs.
That said, AWB still has concerns about this proposal, mainly with using such a heavy portion of the federal stimulus money. Where will this leave us in two years? Even by putting $850 million into the supplemental budget, we face future deficits in the billions. There are also a lot of temporary fixes in this budget — like the state employee salary freeze and the borrowing from construction accounts. These only patch the problems.
This proposal does not fix the fundamental problems of the state government. It does not include needed reforms of government itself. In order not to run the risk massive deficits in the future, government must change the way it does business.
During the press conference discussing the budget (see below) Sen. Brown and the other senators at the press conference today discussed how cutting programs is not what they came to Olympia to do and how much pain these cuts have caused them personally. However, if more isn’t done to create a long-term solution that doesn’t put the state at financial risk, the pain that everyone will suffer will only amplify due to more out of control deficits.
This morning, we will hear from House Democrats when they release their operating budget.
