AUSTIN, Texas – Los condados están cargando con el peso del déficit del presupuesto del estado, y les preocupa tener que hacerlo por el enfoque de sólo recortes que está considerando la legislatura. Pero en el Condado de Travis, los legisladores estatales recibieron el rechazo de los Comisionados de la Corte local. La negativa les llegó en forma de una resolución unánime que se opone a los esfuerzos legislativos para balancear el presupuesto primordialmente mediante recortes a programas y servicios.

Varios condados más están considerando tomar resoluciones similares a instancias de la Unión de Trabajadores del Estado de Texas, TSEU por sus siglas en inglés. Mini García, coordinadora de acción comunitaria de esta organización, piensa que los políticos – respondiendo a un ánimo anti-gasto y anti-impuestos – desorientan al público sugiriendo que no hacen falta más ingresos. Con un enfoque que sólo considera recortes, dice García, la carga del fondeo podría simplemente pasar a los gobiernos locales, los que deben mantener servicios esenciales como los de salud, educación y casas de retiro.

"Esas necesidades no desaparecerán. Así que podríamos ver aumentos en cosas como los impuestos a la propiedad local y las cuotas escolares porque los condados y distritos escolares no podrán sufragarlas."

La resolución del Condado de Travis debería maximizar los recursos federales, así como limitar el Fondo de Estabilización Económica, de seis billones de dólares – una cuenta de ahorro comúnmente llamada "fondo de contingencia". García afirma que este es un apodo desafortunado porque implica que la cuenta debiera ser usada para emergencias naturales, más que para problemas estructurales de presupuesto.

La resolución del Condado de Travis exige que los legisladores revisen el sistema de ingresos estatal, afirmando que un tercio del déficit presupuestal es resultado de una decisión del 2006 en el sentido de reducir los impuestos a la propiedad, a cambio del mal resultado de un "impuesto al margen de negocio". García rechaza la noción de que la recesión es la principal razón de que Texas tenga ahora un boquete financiero.

"El boquete es realmente resultado de decisiones políticas que fueron tomadas en la legislatura que nos llevó a estar hoy en peor forma de lo que podríamos haber estado de haber tenido un flujo razonable de ingresos."

Recesión o no recesión, dice, los legisladores tendrán que sacar al estado del mismo hoyo cada dos años hasta que finalmente enfrenten las razones estructurales que están detrás del déficit.

La resolución del Condado de Travis puede ser consultada en el portal de la TSEU: www.cwa-tseu.org.


get more stories like this via email

Today, groups working with lower-income families in Connecticut are raising awareness about the state's "benefits cliff" with a day of action.

The benefits cliff is when a person might get a raise, have a kid with a part-time job, or some other income increase which then makes them ineligible for certain benefits. The changes can have severe impacts on communities and disproportionately affect families with children.

Stephen Monroe Tomczak, professor of social work at Southern Connecticut State University, said it is part of a larger workforce problem.

"People, particularly people of low income, are in a sense disincentivized to participate in the labor force and denied adequate jobs and income when they try to do that," Tomczak explained.

Several General Assembly budget bills could have dealt with the issue but most failed, which inspired today's action, a mock funeral procession to the governor's office to eulogize the bills, including the refundable Child Tax Credit, a housing voucher funding boost bill, and a bill eliminating the asset limit on the HUSKY C medical insurance program.

Social service advocates know the bills will resurface in next year's budget process.

Rose Ferraro, program lead of health justice policy advocacy for the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, said people are taking alternate steps like going to food banks or avoiding medical care to cover lost benefits.

"Folks will lose their rental assistance and then, they will sort of have to make some tough decisions," Ferraro noted. "'Do I put food on my table or do I make sure to pay rent?' And, so it becomes a sort of untenable position."

Ferraro added interwoven state and federal funding makes it hard to reach the core of the issues leading to benefits cliffs. One eulogized bill would have established a benefits cliff pilot program. For two years, it would have provided subsistence for people who've reached the benefits cliff.

New York towns are reaping many benefits since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed.

Along with funds for larger clean energy projects, the state was awarded $158 million for the IRA's Home Energy Rebates program.

Smaller towns and villages use these grants to implement their climate action plans.

Brighton Town Councilmember Robin Wilt said an IRA grant they applied for will help upgrade the town's HVAC system.

"We will be implementing geothermal and then use a solar array to make the system close to net zero, not quite," said Wilt. "I think we'll get 55% of our energy back with the solar panels."

The bureaucratic process to access the funding was challenging, but some groups are working with the Department of Energy to improve it.

Wilt said feedback on the clean energy projects has been positive. Future projects using IRA funding include increasing walkability and sustainable redevelopment.

Critics have said the IRA includes multiple provisions to increase fossil fuel production.

Towns nationwide are using IRA grants to bolster clean energy projects.

Joel Hicks is a council member for the Borough of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

They've just applied for a grant to work on energy efficiency and solar projects with Harrisburg. He said this will have positive impacts beyond establishing clean energy.

"We were really excited at this potential," said Hicks, "because we saw that the cost savings we would have for putting in substantial solar projects on our public property would actually fund many of our other public municipal goals."

These include purchasing an electric vehicle fleet and having more efficient solid waste programs.

One thing Hicks said he wants to see in future is state and local governments helping small towns and municipalities with putting together their IRA grant proposals.

A new report analyzes Pennsylvania's existing voucher programs, that divert public funds to private schools.

This comes on the heels of Gov. Josh Shapiro's plan to create a new voucher program for K-12 students.

Diana Polson - senior policy analyst with the Keystone Research Center - said last year's Commonwealth Court decision ruled that Pennsylvania's system of funding public education is unconstitutional, therefore the state doesn't have a dollar to waste on expanding existing private-school voucher programs or creating a new one.

"The basic-education funding commission estimated the state must pay $5.1 billion over the next seven years to make sure our public schools are funded equitably and adequately," said Polson. "Meanwhile, our report finds that existing private-school voucher programs are siphoning millions from taxpayers with little to show for it."

Supporters argue that vouchers let children leave under-performing public schools and get a better education at private schools.

Polson said Pennsylvania's voucher programs have no "meaningful educational or financial accountability," so they really have no way of knowing if these programs operate as intended or are beneficial to low-income or moderate-income students.

Polson said the report reveals that the programs have grown, and just this year they will cost the state nearly $500 million.

However, these voucher programs exclude students in rural areas, because there are few if any participating private schools in these regions.

Local public schools remain the primary option for most rural families.

"We also found that private schools receiving these funds are allowed to - and do - routinely discriminate against students for reasons including disabilities, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and more," said Polson. "These programs are also exclusive. They subsidize the state's most elite and expensive private schools as well as affluent families."

Polson said the report reveals that the Independent Fiscal Office estimated that the average EITC program scholarship was $2,314, while the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit was slightly less at around $2,000.

The cost of attending one of the top 25 private schools in Pennsylvania is around $41,000 per year. This means these schools are still out of reach for many low- and moderate-income families.