By Melissa Daniels | PA Independent

 

HARRISBURG — Democrats and Republicans agree. Something must be done to address the fragile, aging infrastructure of Pennsylvania’s transportation system.

They just can’t seem to agree on when.  

 

On Tuesday, state Sen. Mike Stack, D-Philadelphia, proposed that the Legislature hold a special session to address transportation infrastructure improvement and funding.

 

“Every day that we put off funding a long-term solution for this crisis, we’re missing an opportunity to boost our economy and create jobs,” Stack said, “and we’re also playing a dangerous game with the safety of our motorists and our pedestrians.”

 

The Pennsylvania Transportation Advisory Committee, an administration-created committee, released a report last summer detailing the crux of the problem and suggested improvements. Other than a smattering of pending legislative actions, the plan has yet to be realized.

 

One-fifth of state-maintained roads and one-fourth of bridges remain in disrepair.

 

Only the governor can convene a special session even if the General Assembly requests one formally with support from two-thirds of the House and Senate.

 

The Republican leadership, however, opposes a special session. Because the GOP dominates both chambers, it’s unclear whether Stack and his fellow Democrats can garner enough support to merit a request.

 

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, said the transportation issue could be addressed during the regular session before a “lame duck” session kicks in after the November election.

 

But finding the time is crucial given the web of complexities a transportation overhaul could bring.

 

“It is a process that takes a fair amount of time and requires an extensive amount of preparation with the administration,” Pileggi said, “so there needs to be a sufficient block of time available to successfully handle a transportation funding bill.”

 

Kelli Roberts, a spokeswoman with Gov. Tom Corbett’s office, said if the Legislature voted to have a special session, the administration would agree to hear out the legislators.

 

But a transportation overhaul, the administration has said, remains unlikely until the economy sees a substantial recovery. Roberts said that Corbett doesn’t want to put the financial burden of the overhaul on the backs of the taxpaying citizenry, especially as gas prices soar.

 

Until then, efficiency changes in the Department of Transportation, like increasing the registration period from one year to two years, are the short-term recommendations that can be instituted.

 

The changes involving billions of dollars in steel, pavement and oil will have to wait.

 

“There’s multiple suggestions out there, and a good many of them will reflect in taxes, and we are not going to raise taxes on Pennsylvanians,” Roberts said.

 

By Eric Boehm | PA Independent

 

HARRISBURG — Campaign finance reports in Pennsylvania finally could be entering the digital age.

 

Candidates for all statewide offices and the General Assembly may have to submit their campaign finance reports electronically, a move that advocates say would reduce the time between filing deadlines and when the public can access the information.

 

It also would save money.

 

State Rep. Lynda Schlegel-Culver, R-Snyder, sponsored the measure, which was moved through the House State Government Committee on Tuesday with unanimous support.

 

The bill heads to the House for a vote, which could come in the a few weeks.

 

“It’s a transparency issue for the public and the media,” Culver said, adding that it creates uniformity because all candidates will have to submit their reports the same way.

 

Candidates can submit their reports electronically now, but only about 30 percent do so, according to the state's Department of State.

 

Like income tax returns, the finance reports only have to be postmarked by the end of the day the day the reports are due. 

 

It takes a few days for the reports to arrive in the Harrisburg office, where they're opened by department staff, verified and sent to an outside vendor to be compiled for the website, said Ron Rumon, department spokesman.

 

That process takes three to four business days. 

 

The vendor has 72 hours to compile the data and enter it electronically, which then comes back to the department to be posted online.

 

As a result, the final round of campaign finance reports — which must be postmarked 10 days before the election — are sometimes unavailable online before voters go to the polls.

 

The reporting deadline is a Friday and elections are Tuesday, leaving only six business days between the deadline and the election day.

 

“It is a time-consuming situation and certainly would be available to the public more quickly if all the reports were filed online,” Rumon said. “Most of the reports would be posted the day they are received.”

 

The entire process costs about $100,000 — mostly the result of vendor costs — which could be saved if paper reports were eliminated.

 

Rumon said Gov. Tom Corbett supports the concept of online campaign finance reports, but the administration has not endorsed the Culver bill.

 

Culver acknowledges that the costs are minimal, but still important.

 

“Does it save enough money to resolve the budget crisis? It does not, but if we looked at every department in this manner, we could save additional money,” she said.

 

With the current laws, the public can be left unaware about major contributions in the final days of a campaign, due to the time it takes to process the paper reports, said Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, which advocates for transparent and accountable government.

 

“This will allow for instantaneous reporting, and that’s good news for the public,” Kauffman said. "It's a reform that is long overdue."

 

During Tuesday’s hearing, a few lawmakers expressed concern about the ability of older candidates, or candidates without access to the Internet, to meet the new requirement.

 

Culver said the bill includes provisions to allow candidates to appoint a staffer to submit the reports.

 

The bill would require all candidates for governor, state House, state Senate, auditor general, attorney general, treasurer and appellate court judges to submit reports electronically.

 

Political committees would have to follow the same rules.

 

The Federal Election Commission handles campaign finance reports for congressional offices; reports for local elected offices in Pennsylvania are under the jurisdiction of the respective county.

 

By Eric Boehm | PA Independent

 

HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania plan to eliminate property taxes and replace them with higher sales and income taxes hit its first roadblocks.

 

Opponents said the proposal would redirect the cost of public education from property owners and businesses to individuals and small businesses.

 

Others were against eliminating some exemptions in the state’s sales tax code.

 

And others questioned whether Harrisburg was better equipped to control education dollars than school boards.

 

Jeff Mummert, business administrator for the South Western School District in York County, said the plan was “drastic and unworkable,” taking budgetary decisions out of the hands of school boards and administrators.

 

“It is a big government solution that wrecks local discretion,” he said during a House Finance Committee hearing Monday morning. 

 

The outpouring of opposition came from both sides of the aisle, two weeks after a rally that brought several hundred taxpayers to the state capitol, calling for the bill’s passage and an end to the property tax system.

 

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Jim Cox, R-Berks, would increase the state’s income tax from 3.07 percent to 4 percent and the sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent. It also would expand the sales tax base by ridding several exemptions. (Click here for more on the proposal).

 

Similar plans have been around for decades but have never made it through the General

Assembly for various reasons, some of which were presented Monday.

 

Mummert suggested that most voters would support eliminating the property tax, but most would oppose the higher sales and income taxes.

 

“This is the quandary that we find ourselves in regarding the issue of property taxes in the state,” he said.

 

Cox said the goal of the legislation was to do what was right for homeowners and property taxpayers.

 

“No plan to completely replace school property taxes is going to please every special interest group,” Cox said.

 

State Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne, suggested that eliminating property taxes would shift the tax burden from businesses and industries, which pay a hefty share of the property tax bill in some towns.

 

“It’s an enormous shift … to individual taxpayers, especially low-income working families trying to raise children,” she said.

 

Cox said it would be unconstitutional to eliminate property taxes only for homeowners, and not businesses.

 

Meanwhile, representatives from rural areas were concerned about how the elimination of property taxes would affect the distribution of education dollars, said state Rep. Kathy Rapp, R-Warren.

 

Cox said his plan does not make any changes to how the state would award education funds, which he said was intentional so the debate would focus on the merits of replacing the property tax. 

 

But without information about how it would affect the distribution of funds, rural lawmakers are unlikely to support it, Rapp said.

 

School districts see local property tax revenue as more stable than sales or income taxes, which can fluctuate with the economy, said Dave DeVare, executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, which represents school boards.

 

And since Cox’s bill would remove several sales tax exemptions from Pennsylvania law, industries that enjoy them are opposed to the plan as well.

 

Bernard Oravec, publisher of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette and member of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said the repeal of the tax exemption for newspaper sales and advertising would stifle the free flow of information, essentially taxing free speech.

 

A few sales tax exemptions would remain — clothing items priced at less than $50 and food items listed on a U.S. Department of Agriculture index of nutritional foods — under Cox’s bill.

 

For example, Lucky Charms or another sugary cereal would be taxed while whole grain foods like Cheerios would not, Cox explained.

 

And some property taxes would remain — temporarily.

 

School districts would continue to be allowed to use property taxes to retire existing debt payments, but would not be allowed to use property taxes for future debt.

 

Even with that allowance in the bill, the average property tax decrease would be 90 percent in the first year and would be eliminated entirely when existing debt was fully paid.

By Eric Boehm | PA Independent

 

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania House Republicans used some fancy parliamentary tricks to lock in spending at $27.6 billion for next year’s budget Monday.

 

Meanwhile, GOP leaders are aiming for a final vote on the state budget by June 13 — more than two weeks before the constitutional deadline of June 30.

 

The House Appropriations Committee approved the budget bill with a party line 21-14 vote, setting it up for a floor debate and final passage.

 

The committee essentially set the 2012-13 budget’s final spending figure, when it ruled that any amendments to the bill must be revenue neutral.

 

Democrats were angered by the move, which blocked their plans to add about $300 million to basic education, county-level health services and welfare.

 

"They basically took the microphone away from us and the pen and pencil out of our hands as far as writing in the amendments. They’ve shut us off,” said state Rep. Joe Markosek, D-Allegheny, minority chairman of the committee.

 

Markosek suggested that the Republicans were trying to avoid divisions in their ranks, since some Democratic proposals had bipartisan support.

 

State Rep. Bill Adolph, R-Delaware, chairman of the committee, said the only motivation for the move was to get the budget bill to the House floor without spending more than was available.

 

The Independent Fiscal Office’s report in early May said about $800 million in excess revenue would be available above the baseline in the governor’s budget, which was proposed in February. 

 

The state Senate boosted the governor’s plan by $500 million, leaving about $300 million in reserve. 

 

House Democrats wanted to spend that amount, but Republicans said they were uncertain those funds would materialize because of a slowdown in corporate tax income last month.

 

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they would not want a final vote until May’s revenue figures are finalized June 1.

 

Earlier in the day, House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, and Senate Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman, R-Centre, pointed to June 13 as their goal for passage of the budget.

 

Republicans control the General Assembly and the governor’s office, allowing them to hold all the cards in budget dealing.

 

By Melissa Daniels | PA Independent

 

HARRISBURG — Clark Trucking is looking for drivers, especially experienced, skilled drivers, who can haul water to Marcellus shale drilling sites in massive tractor-trailers.

But that's not always easy, especially when natural gas prices are high, and business is booming.

 

"We’re always looking for truck drivers, that's something we're looking for all the time," said human resources director Jeff Andrew, of the Muncy-based company. "When it was booming, it was difficult getting trained drivers who had experience in this industry."

 

The state Department of Labor and Industry calculates 2,132 annual vacancies in the heavy trucking industry, with an average salary of $39,590 a year. That's just one of 18 job categories with more than 1,000 annual vacancies in a state with nearly half a million people out of work.

 

In response, the state proposes the Keystone Works program, a workforce development measure that's included in the 2012-13 proposed budget. 

 

The Keystone Works program aims to match unemployed workers with businesses who provide “high priority occupations," or jobs that are in demand, have a certain skill level and provide a family-sustaining wage. 

 

 

Program participants would enroll in training for up to eight weeks with the business while receiving unemployment benefits, with the expectation that the business would hire the worker at the end of the training. The business then would receive $375 a month for up to four months after hiring the worker.

  

“We haven’t done enough in the past with matching employers with employees that are actively looking for work,” said House Labor and Industry Committee Chairman Rep. Ron Miller, R-York. “We have not done enough in the past in promoting high priority occupations, people going into training for jobs where there is actually a need.”

 

According to the Department of Labor and Industry, some of the fields considered high priority occupations statewide include office clerks, customer sales representatives, manual laborers along with freight, stock and material movers, as well as truck drivers. Given the rise of the natural gas industry, jobs in trucking, piping or advanced manufacturing are opening up.

 

Unemployment rates in the commonwealth are decreasing, albeit at a slow rate, according to Pennsylvania Workforce Development figures. Last year, some 507,000 residents were without a job, or 7.9 percent of the workforce. In that same time frame, the civilian workforce grew by around 32,000 workers.

 

The unemployment rate inside the commonwealth has stayed below the national average for the past 48 months.

 

David Patti, president of the Pennsylvania Business Council, which advocates for businesses and business development, said Keystone Works offers positives for businesses and unemployed job seekers. For those collecting unemployment benefits, putting off training may seem like the right idea if it means losing compensation. But after 26, 52 or 104 weeks on unemployment, it will be more difficult to find a job.

 

Incentive to train isn't much, as unemployment benefits are suspended if someone is in a certification program even after being laid off, Patti said.  

 

“The easiest way to find a new job is to have a job,” he said. “It’s just the way it works. So somebody who is just laid off, if we can get them back into the program in three weeks or five weeks, they stand a very good chance of getting a job in this industry they trained with.”

 

The eight-week training period under Keystone Works allows for catching up on vocabulary, skill sets and certification that may be central to a job in manufacturing, tech support or commercial driving, Patti said. 

 

But some question the program's benefits. Rick Bloomingdale, president of Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, said while the group support putting people back to work, Keystone Works could end up as a turnstile of corporate exploitation, without a provision limiting businesses’ treatment of the program. 

 

A company could not hire the worker after eight weeks, citing no need for new employees after all, only to re-enroll and receive another eight weeks worth of labor courtesy of the state’s unemployment system.

 

“We want people to work, but we want to them to get good pay,” Bloomingfield said. “It would be worthwhile if that person got the training, and moved into a full-time job."

 

State Rep. William Keller, D-Philadelphia, shared the concern about businesses using the program.

 

Keller drafted amendments to the bill, including questioning whether businesses with back taxes should be allowed to participate in the program.

 

Miller said those concerns will be discussed for potential House amendments when the bill is brought up later this session.

 

Vicki DiLeo, Democratic executive director of the House Labor and Industry Committee, said the program at its present proposed funding, $2.5 million, would at best support some 1,300 workers, provided they all completed the eight-week training session, after worker’s compensation costs and administrative expenses.

By Eric Boehm | PA Independent

 

HARRISBURG — Some Republican lawmakers are outraged about the size of Pennsylvania school districts’ savings accounts.

 

As first reported by PA Independent last week, the school districts are sitting on a collective $3.2 billion in reserve fund balances. 

 

State Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery, said for districts to consider laying off teachers and staff or increasing taxes instead of tapping their reserves was "ludicrous."

 

“The people on these school boards that are holding on to these pots of money need to come clean with the taxpayers that they are about to jump into their pockets and raid one more time," Vereb said.

 

State Rep. Mario Scavello, R-Monroe, even suggested that the extra money be returned to taxpayers.

 

Many districts plan to use their reserve funds to pay for pension contributions, which are expected to increase from about $1 billion this year to $4 billion by 2017, though the state covers half of those costs. 

 

The Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officers, which represents public schools, estimates that about 70 percent of districts are using some of their reserves this year and is encouraging districts to use it for only one-time costs.

 

Even so, Vereb said he would consider drafting legislation to cap districts’ reserve accounts.

 

Bill Patton, spokesman for House Democrats, said many districts are struggling to make ends meet.

 

“Using emergency reserves to pay for basic annual operating costs is no substitute for properly funding public education,” Patton wrote in an email.

 

Meanwhile, the Legislature has a reserve fund of about $120 million, according to a recently released audit report.

 

Vereb said there is one key difference — the General Assembly is not voting to raise taxes this year, unlike many of the districts with reserves. 

 

He added that the Legislature’s reserve fund was more than $200 million four years ago, and lawmakers have been tapping it to fund some programs recently.

 

By: Eric Boehm | PA Independent

 

HARRISBURG — Reforms to the state’s pension system will have to address structural problems and not simply defer payments to the future, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee said Monday afternoon.

 

But the General Assembly probably won't undertake those changes until next year.

 

Speaking at the monthly luncheon of the Pennsylvania Press Club, state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, said he favored making structural changes to the state pension system in light of coming cost increases that will see an estimated $4 billion of the state budget consumed by pensions by 2016. 

 

At that point, he said, traditional budget battlefields such as funding for higher education and basic education will be drowned out by the pension crisis, which will consume $1.7 billion of next year’s budget, and the costs will keep climbing.

 

“I’m all in for alleviating it, only if we make structural changes so that we can look forward and be comfortable that we can match those payments,” Corman said, adding that it would probably factor into next year’s budget plan.

 

Corman told reporters he was still developing a plan of approach, but indicated changes for benefits of future employees should be considered along with changing future benefits for current ones.

 

“I think that’s something you have to look into. Again, it would only be moving forward for current employees, not anything retrospective,” he said. 

 

He said he wants to see a change to a defined contribution plan, which would save costs in the long run by restructuring how state workers earn benefits.

 

Courts have previously ruled that any changes to existing employees’ benefits are a violation of law, and unions strongly oppose any changes that would reduce benefits, leading to major confrontations in recent years in states where Republican majorities have tried to rein in pension costs.

 

Dave Fillman is president of Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, which represents state workers in Pennsylvania. He said current employees should not be punished because they have made their obligatory contributions over the years.

 

Gov. Tom Corbett has spent the past month focusing on the state pensions and their effect on the budget.

Pennsylvania’s two major pension systems are a combined $35 billion in the red, thanks to lawmakers’ decision to deliberately pay less into the plans for a decade starting in 2003, as well as investment losses of $30 billion because of the economic collapse of 2008.

 

 

By PA Independent Staff

 

HARRISBURG — Funding for public education is one topic sure to stir controversy during budget season, often pitting local districts against state lawmakers in arguments of how much to spend, where to spend it, and how to spend it.

This week, PA Independent took a look at how much school districts have on hand, as well as what new, creative ways are under consideration to fill the gaps.

 

Meanwhile, the state examines how its own agencies can do more with less in a variety of departments — such as the prison system — while lawmakers are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on food for their staffs and their constituents.

 

PA school districts debate best use of $3.2B in reserve

 

School districts across the state have been stashing billions of tax dollars in reserve funds, hesitant to tap into their fund balances, even in the face of rising costs.

 

As of June 30 last year, school districts statewide were sitting on more than $3.2 billion above what was needed to pay expenses for the 2010-11 fiscal year, according to Department of Education statistics. The same data show the total amount in the reserve accounts has nearly tripled, from $1.1 billion in 1996-97 to more than $3.2 billion last year. At the same time, state spending on public education has increased from about $13 billion to about $26 billion.

 

But some schools are hesitant to dip into those funds when considering the coming increases in pension costs for public school employees.

 

For example, at East Stroudsburg School District, its $34 million fund balance is one of the largest among the 500 school districts in Pennsylvania. But that reserve will not be tapped to help close an expected $10 million shortfall in a proposed $143 million budget, says district business manager Patricia Bader.

 

“We didn’t want to go into that, because the future looks as bleak as this year,” Bader said.

 

Gov. Tom Corbett‘s administration, meanwhile, is encouraging districts with large reserve funds — like East Stroudsburg — to dip into those accounts to cover operating expenses in a year when state education funding is increasing, but not as much as districts would like.

 

“School districts that are claiming that they are losing money, many of them should look into their fund balances and using those accounts to help fund academic programs,” Tim Eller, spokesman for the state Department of Education, said.

 

Proposed budget cuts neuter internal watchdogs

 

A look at Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget for 2012-13 shows some internal watchdog agencies aren’t receiving as much as they have in the past.

 

Some of the cuts follow a trend of decreases. The Department of the Auditor General, for example, received funding at a seven-year high of $54.4 million in 2008 — next year, it’s proposed at $42.3 million. Auditor General Jack Wagner says he’s seen his staff decrease from 755 to 600 since 2005, and a corresponding decrease of 10 percent to 15 percent in the number of annual audits.

 

“The auditor general is the fiscal watchdog of the taxpayers of Pennsylvania,” he said, “and it’s critical that we get proper funding to perform our function, and our function is one of making sure transparency and accountability exists in all aspects of state government.”

 

The Office of Open Records, created to uphold the Right-to-Know law and handle records request appeals, would receive flat funding at $1.174 million. But in a show of support for the four-year-old office’s ever-growing operation, the Senate’s budget allocates $1.35 million.

 

But the governor’s office says holding the line or cutting funding for these agencies has nothing to do with their particular services. It’s about doing more with less, as all departments must do, said spokesman Eric Shirk.

 

“We have to take a bigger look with this budget,” Shirk said. “What we’re looking to do is keep the spending in order.”

 

Lawmakers spent $470K on meals, munchies

 

Around half a million dollars in taxpayer money is helping lawmakers pay for constituent luncheons and day-to-day food items out of the legislative expense account.

 

Sometimes the events are large — such as the 2011 Philadelphia Community Service Award hosted by Sen. Shirley Kitchen, D-Philadelphia, with a $5,100 tab. Other line items are smaller, right down to coffee for $1.50 a cup.

 

Russ Faber, chief clerk of the Senate, has to determine on a case-by-case basis what exactly counts as a legitimate legislative expense.

 

"Obviously, one of the major criteria is to determine that the activity is not personal or campaign related," Faber said.

 

All told, state senators and their staff racked up more than $200,000 on meals and “consumable supplies” such as coffee, soda and snacks during the 2010-11 fiscal year. In the state House, various line items for meals and other food expenses totaled nearly $270,000 for the year.

 

Some say the principle behind the expenses matters more than the dollar amounts. Eric Epstein, founder of Rock The Capitol, a Harrisburg-based nonprofit that advocates for government reforms, said these types of events are little more than expensive public service announcements.

 

“There really is no value to these types of events. It’s money that is simply being wasted,” Epstein said. “It’s a taxpayer-funded political event.”

 

Districts consider advertising in school buses to bring in more revenue

 

As costs grow and tax increases become less palatable, Pennsylvania school districts could begin targeting young consumers with ads in school buses to make money.

 

“It’s just another creative way that we’ve been trying to do things,” said Michael Braun, business manager for Upper Moreland School District in Montgomery County. “Advertising is all over the place, so why not take advantage of that to keep programs that take kids to the next level?”

 

The cash generated does not amount to a windfall, but every little bit can help at a time when state and local funding is decreasing. Upper Moreland School District, for example, expects to generate about $25,000 annually from ads in its fleet of 50 school buses and vans.

 

Ads in buses could be a direct reaction to a change in state education funding policy. In the past, the state distributed to the districts a specific subsidy that covered busing. This year, Gov. Tom Corbett proposed rolling that line item — along with the basic education subsidy and payments for retired teachers — into a single budget line, to be called the Student Achievement Block Grant.

 

The block grants, Corbett explained in his February budget address, would allow districts to spend that money as they see fit. If districts can generate enough revenue from advertising to pay for busing, they can free up some of those state dollars for other purposes.

 

Federal EPA rules Dimock, PA, water is safe; contamination not caused by gas drilling

 

The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced its determination that methane-laced well water in Dimock Township was not contaminated by natural gas drilling. http://paindependent.com/2012/05/federal-epa-rules-dimock-pa-water-is-safe-contamination-not-caused-by-gas-drilling/

 

The town in Susquehanna County received national attention for its contaminated water in the 2010 documentary “Gasland,” stirring opposition to gas drilling nationwide. Homeowners began complaining of methane in their water wells after Cabot Oil and Gas, a national firm that drills for natural gas and oil, started tapping the Marcellus shale formation beneath the town in 2009.

 

But after a three-month investigation, the EPA concluded the methane was not the result of gas drilling. http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/states/pa.html

 

Former PA school nears sale after three years

 

After being vacant for three years, there might be a way for the state to sell off the Scotland School for Veterans Children in Franklin County.

 

The Ohio-based Winebrenner Theological Seminary approached the state to buy the property as part of its expansion into the mid-Atlantic region.

 

The school is valued at $5 million, according to the Department of General Services. Since the school’s closure, the department has paid an estimated total of $5.6 million to maintain the property, according to DGS figures. Maintenance kept the property from losing value or becoming the target of vandalism, DGS spokeswoman Holly Lubart said.

 

Property sales like this one are a steadily growing source of revenue for the state. In 2011, the state made $25.1 million from selling 19 properties. That’s more than triple what it made in 2010 when it sold off 10 properties for $7.5 million.

 

Bipartisan group calls for PA prison reform to save money

 

A new coalition composed of public and private officials is calling for changes to the state’s prison system.

 

The group met at the Capitol on Monday to unveil its recommendations for implementing new policies for the Department of Corrections — which is 105 percent capacity — that mimic those in other states.

 

At the core of the reform is the goal of saving taxpayer dollars from a system labeled inefficient, and keeping former inmates from returning to that system. Estimates from free market think tank the Commonwealth Foundation presented at Monday's panel say it annually costs taxpayers $66 million to support about 1,900 inmates who qualify for parole but remain behind bars.

 

Even when parole is granted, a three-month, pre-release costs about $9,000 per inmate. 

 

The group includes DOC Secretary John Wetzel, who says the system no longer works.

 

“We’re just looking at what we have, and what we have control over, and finding ways to do it better with what we have, if not less,” Wetzel said.

 

By Eric Boehm | PA Independent

 

HARRISBURG — When state Sen. Shirley Kitchen, D-Philadelphia, hosted dinner for 250 constituents as part of the 2011 Philadelphia Community Service Award, state taxpayers picked up the $5,100 tab.

 

Taxpayers ponied up another $3,600 to pay for 200 constituents to attend a Mothers and Daughters Day Celebration luncheon Kitchen hosted in November 2010. 

But the fun didn’t stop there. Kitchen hosted an Older Adults Appreciation Luncheon in December 2010 for 200 constituents, and guess who paid for that $3,200 tab? The taxpayers.

 

What Kitchen did is not illegal — and she is hardly the only member of the General Assembly to do it.

 

But Kitchen’s three events topped a list of meals covered by the Legislature’s expense account, which is funded with tax dollars the General Assembly appropriates to itself each year in the state budget.

 

In the 2010-11 budget, the most recent year for which full records are available, state senators spent more than $150,000 on meals from their caucus expense accounts — usually for events that included themselves and guests — while state House members spent $67,000.

 

Kentia Waters, Kitchen’s spokeswoman, said the luncheons were part of outreach to the community and were popular events with the senator’s constituents.

 

“They are community events and a lot times we do offer lunch and other refreshments for the constituents,” Waters said. “These events last a few hours, so it is important to have something to eat for the constituents.”

 

Republicans rang up big costs too. 

 

State Sen. John Pippy, R-Allegheny, charged $2,200 to the account for lunches at a March 2011 student government seminar with 150 people. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester, rang up $1,100 for lunches at a similar event in April 2011 attended by 125 people.

 

Erik Arneson, Pileggi’s spokesman, defended the expenses as paying for a “fantastic event” that allows high school students to participate in a mock version of state government for a day — complete with writing and voting for fake legislation.

 

“We always work with the facility — last year’s was held at Neumann University in Aston — to minimize the cost as much as possible,” Arneson wrote in an email.

 

All told, state senators and their staff racked up more than $200,000 on meals and “consumable supplies” like coffee, soda and snacks during the 2010-11 fiscal year. In the state House, various line items for meals and other food expenses totaled nearly $270,000 for the year.

 

A total of $470,000 for an entire year is small change compared to the more than $27 billion state budget itself, but some say the principle behind the expenses matters more than the dollar amounts.

 

Eric Epstein, founder of Rock The Capitol, a Harrisburg-based nonprofit that advocates for government reforms, said the types of events like those run by Kitchen, Pippy and Pileggi are little more than expensive public service announcements.

 

“There really is no value to these types of events. It’s money that is simply being wasted,” Epstein said. “It’s a taxpayer-funded political event.”

 

And the expense accounts are used for more than just the occasional meal with constituents. Under state law, they pay rent on district offices, buy furnishings for those offices and have passed bills printed and framed as decorations. 

 

They also cover travel and lodging for legislative conferences, bulk mailings to constituents, meals and so-called “consumable supplies” like the $414 of Tastykakes purchased by state Sen. Christine Tartaglione, D-Philadelphia, for an event with senior citizens.

 

The vast majority of the line items are for small expenses — $1.50 for a cup of coffee here, $3.25 for a slice of pizza there — but all those little expenses add up quickly to far exceed the amount from luncheons and breakfasts with constituents.

 

But it also begs the question: With lawmakers making more than $80,000 annually, should taxpayers be reimbursing them for the cost of a can of Coke?

 

It should be noted that the General Assembly accounts for about 1 percent of the entire state budget, with the executive branch consuming the vast majority of state spending.

 

Epstein said the taxpayer-funded luncheons and other expenses covered by the legislative expense accounts — like newsletters to constituents that are also covered by the caucus expense accounts — are little more than an incumbency protection scheme.

 

“These events only serve to ingratiate the Legislature with their constituents. It’s an embedded advantage that challengers don’t have,” Epstein said.

 

Not so, Waters said.

 

“It’s not a tool that is used to get re-elected. It’s a tool to get the information out to the constituents,” Waters said.

 

Waters added that Kitchen runs these events every year, not only when running for re-election.

 

In the state House, Republicans and Democrats maintain their own expense accounts and manage them separately, but the state Senate runs all expenses through the chief clerks’ office and has done so since the 1980s.

 

Russ Faber, chief clerk of the Senate, has to determine on a case-by-case basis what exactly counts as a legitimate legislative expense.

 

"Obviously, one of the major criteria is to determine that the activity is not personal or campaign related," Faber said.

 

There is less oversight in the state House, where both caucuses control their accounts and legislative leaders determine what costs can be put on the Legislature’s tab.

 

The itemized costs for meals do not include the full picture, either. 

 

In addition to their annual $80,000 salary, members of the General Assembly are eligible for a per diem payment of $159 for each day of legislative activity, which is to cover the cost of travel and meals.  Lawmakers who live within 50 miles of the state Capitol are not allowed to use per diems, but may still use the expense accounts for individual expenses.

 

Not all members accept the per diems, choosing instead to be reimbursed for individual expenses. Those who take the per diem are not required to disclose how it was used, so those costs cannot be tracked.

 

Under the laws governing lawmakers’ expenses, they cannot accept the per diems and be reimbursed for itemized expenses.

 

In the proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, the General Assembly would cost taxpayers more than $314 million. 

 

That total does not include the $120 million contained in a legislative surplus account, which the General Assembly maintains for itself in the event of a budget impasse with the governor's office to cover salaries and expenses.

 

Correction: This story was updated to clarify the rules regarding which lawmakers can qualify for per diems

 

By Eric Boehm | PA Independent

 

HARRISBURG — As state funding for education increased in the past 15 years, many school districts set aside a hefty stash of cash in savings accounts.

 

As of the end of the 2011 budget year, Pennsylvania school districts have more than $3.2 billion in reserve funds. Some cash is earmarked for specific projects but not being used and some is simply sitting in accounts, according to data from the state Department of Education.

 

What’s more impressive is the speed with which some districts have built up their reserves. 

 

The same data show that the total amount in the reserve accounts has nearly tripled from $1.1 billion in 1996-97 to more than $3.2 billion last year. At the same time, state spending on public education has increased from about $13 billion to about $26 billion.

 

Tim Eller, spokesman for the state Department of Education, said districts are saving this money for expected future expenses while asking taxpayers annually to pay more than is needed.

 

“Reserve balances are to be used in times like these when revenues are low,” Eller said. “School districts retaining a fund balance or reserves (are) a prudent thing to do, but at what level does that end?”

 

PA Independent first reported earlier this week that 10 school districts have reserve funds of more than $25 million, but 11 districts have stored at least $20 million in the past 15 years. (See chart)

 

Pittsburgh School District leads the way with $148 million in reserve funds and also leads the way in gains during the last 15 years, when the district has stockpiled more than $101 million in cash.

 

Meanwhile, the district has announced plans to lay off about 500 staff — including up to 350 teachers — next fall because of budget cuts.

 

Pittsburgh School District did not return calls for comment Thursday.

 

Patricia McGlone, spokeswoman for Downingtown Area School District, which had the second largest increase over 15 years, said the growing district was putting money away for the construction of new school buildings, some of which have been completed and others that are planned for the future.

 

Dave Devare, director of research services for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, which advocates for public education and local school governance said districts, said districts have built up their reserves in recent years to prepare for increased pension costs over the next decade.

 

Employer contributions to the state’s Public School Employees Retirement System are divided between the state and individual districts. Those contributions are forecast from about $1 billion this year to more than $4 billion by 2017 — and the system is nearly $30 billion underfunded right now.

 

Devare said districts also have put money away for future building construction and maintenance, and putting the money in reserve instead of dedicating it to a specific project maintains flexibility.

 

“Rather than limiting themselves strictly to one capital project, they are reserving that money so if they have to change their priorities, they are able to do so,” Devare said.

 

The Pennsylvania Association of School Budget Officers, a statewide advocacy organization, says that about 70 percent of districts are reaching into their reserves at some level this year.

 

PSBA and PASBO have encouraged districts to reach into reserve funds for one-time expenses, since the funds will not renew year after year.

 

But Gov. Tom Corbett wants districts to use the reserves for educational expenses to avoid cutting programs or laying off teachers and staff.

 

During a Wednesday appearance on the Dom Giordano Program on WPHT-AM in Philadelphia, Corbett said school districts were making “a concerted effort” to not go into their reserve funds and renewed the call for districts to use some of their reserves this year.

 

House Republicans joined the call for districts to use some of their reserves on Thursday.

 

State Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery, said he was “furious to find that many of the state’s school districts that are crying poor and blaming the state for their fiscal problems are sitting on surpluses, including one that totals $148 million.”

 

Keeping a small level of reserves for an emergency is prudent budgeting, but taxpayers deserve an explanation why districts have such high levels of money they refuse to use in a tight budget year, he said.