Gov’s Budget: Spending Cuts, No New Taxes
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December 19, 2008
Olympia, WA – Even Governor Chris Gregoire says she "hates" the lean state budget she's proposing for the next two years - but she laid it out on Thursday, nonetheless. It trims spending on a wide variety of programs, including health care for 46,000 poor people. There will be less money for schools, from kindergarten through college; less Medicaid money for low-income nursing home residents; and 13 state parks will be closed.
Jon Gould, deputy director of The Children's Alliance, echoes the concerns of many – that this budget is all about cuts.
"We need a more creative approach – one that looks at increasing revenue, through closing tax loopholes that don't have a public benefit; through more federal funds – and preserving essential services for children and families."
State employees and teachers will not receive the raises promised in their contract negotiations, and several thousand layoffs are predicted. Greg Devereaux, executive director of the Washington Federation of State Employees, says it could all have been avoided with a slight tax increase.
"State workers are already 25 percent behind their counterparts in the private sector, and a two percent increase in the next two years was a paltry sum to keep state government competitive."
Critics of the plan point out that it focuses strictly on budget cuts, just as more people are losing jobs and need social services. The Economic Opportunity Institute's new report lists 15 ways the state could be raising money, says EOI Policy Director Marilyn Watkins, if the governor had a different mind set.
"I think the governor really needs to rethink her 'no new taxes' stance. The cuts that we're talking about at this point are going to put our economy deeper into the hole, and are going to make it harder to get back on our feet economically and really compete in the 21st century."
In January, the state House and Senate will formulate their own budgets and the three will eventually be combined. Advocacy groups will kick their efforts into high gear between now and then, says AARP Washington Policy Director, Ingrid MacDonald.
"I think everyone, sitting in every chair, is honest that this is going to be a very, very tough session. The important thing is to show the legislature the human impact of readjusting numbers on a page, and to urge them to approach this in a balanced way."
The governor's proposed budget taps into, but does not exhaust, the state's "Rainy Day Fund," and also factors in about $1 billion expected in federal aid.