The most important budget in decades is about to be negotiated in Harrisburg, where Gov. Rendell introduced his final spending plan this week. Not only is the state facing a structural deficit that has been masked by gimmicks such as the "stimulus." It's also about to be hit by a pension tsunami that will increase the multibillion-dollar deficit by multibillions.
Harrisburg must finally acknowledge that the state government is on the brink of bankrupting its citizens by spending too much.
Already we are hearing about the need for new revenue. Our leaders are hoping to save us by finding new, taxpayer-friendly revenue sources, such as a tax on natural gas production. Perhaps there is revenue to be derived from natural gas, but if politicians use it to solve the deficit, the taxpayers lose.
The word we never hear from Harrisburg is one that those in the private sector often hear: downsizing. Our elected officials have a spending problem, and it's time for them to work up the courage to break the habit.
Of the 5.6 million people working in Pennsylvania, 753,000 are government workers (local, state, and federal). A funny thing happened during the recession: More than 10 percent of the private workforce found itself unemployed, while virtually none of the government workers did.
According to the Census Bureau, the state employs the equivalent of 160,000 full-time employees making more than $8 billion a year in salaries. There are 195,000 employed in teaching elementary and secondary school, making more than $10 billion. Of course, benefits and pensions add billions more.
Our leaders would have us believe that they have run the most efficient organization that has ever existed, and that any decrease in the level of employment would devastate the ability of government to provide services the public needs.
Sorry, I just don't believe that, and neither does the majority of the public that has to pay the bill. Technological advances have allowed most businesses to do more with less, and one would think the state could also be run more efficiently. Instead, it added 10,000 employees between 1997 and 2007, according to census data.
