Posted on Mon, Jun. 29, 2009
John Baer: State Police at center of latest budget squabble
By John Baer
Philadelphia Daily News
Daily News Political Columnist
JUST ONE EXAMPLE of the mess and confusion permeating the state budget is a fight over funding for the State Police.
Gov. Rendell suggests that reckless Republicans mean mayhem, carnage and blood in the streets. Republicans, basically, say, “Huh?”
As a result, and as the Guv and GOP lock horns over taxes for a budget due tomorrow (as if), state troopers and the public are on a political seesaw, pushed up and down by conflicting information.
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The originally proposed State Police budget was $877 million. Ed says GOP cuts total $84 million. Republicans say that it’s far less, only 1.3 percent less than the Guv’s current plan, and actually increases current State Police spending. Senate spokesman Eric Arneson says that he doesn’t see how more money leads to layoffs: “I admit to being very confused.”
So does Bruce Edwards, president of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association: “Lay off 800? That’s a fifth of our force! We’re worried about money to hire more cadets, but there’s not going to be layoffs. It’s scare tactics to get troopers and the public incited. You shouldn’t play politics with public safety. . . . That’s not responsible.”
(Rendell denies using scare tactics. He says that he’s “educating” people.)
The difference hinges on interpretation of how State Police are funded.
The agency gets 73 percent of its money from the Motor License Fund, the rest from the General Fund and the feds. The administration says that Motor License Fund dough is doled out in proportion to highway patrols, and fewer patrols (necessitated by General Fund cuts) mean less dough. Because Republicans cut General Fund money, it’s assumed that they automatically cut Motor License Fund money.
But Arneson says that there’s “no basis in law” for this interpretation, and it appears that he’s right.
When I press the issue, the Guv’s budget office ducks, the State Police refer me to the governor’s office – and Rendell’s deputy communications director, Michael Smith, after checking, concedes that “nothing in statute or administrative code” requires a proportion of one fund to the other.
So without a link to Motor License Fund money, the GOP cuts are nowhere near as drastic as portrayed.
And if there was any real chance of massive layoffs, wouldn’t some preparation be under way? State Police spokesman Jack Lewis, in an e-mail Friday: “At this time, I am not aware of any plans to lay off troopers.”
[Snip]
State Police funding is only one piece of a large budget puzzle. But if other pieces are as twisted and convoluted as this one, how do we put together a picture of the truth?
Send e-mail to baerj@phillynews.com.
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