While I’m happy to see those people in Harrisburg start “early” on a budget, I have zero confidence.
There is one fact that I have conspicuously noticed in recent years. All the talk about budgets in Pennsylvania has been around “additional revenue sources.” Not one word about spending. This is unforgivable. As state Rep. Rick Saccone used to say, “Pennsylvania does not have a revenue problem, Pennsylvania has a spending problem.”
There is no better example than the stupid debate about putting tolls on one bridge on Interstate 79. The late Sen. Barry Stout wrote, more than once, “Users should pay.” OK, so why have the users of the Pennsylvania Turnpike been subsidizing inefficient SEPTA and Pittsburgh Port Authority (or whatever they are called this week) for over 10 years? And people whine that use of the turnpike is down.
I am a no-longer user of the turnpike because of the costs and where money is being squandered. My wife used to use the turnpike because she liked the reliably clean restrooms at the plazas. On her last two trips, that was no longer true. So now, she too avoids the turnpike.
Some years ago, through the efforts of our state senator, I was able to examine the proposed Pennsylvania budget. I saw an awful lot of questionable and wasteful expenses. None got deleted.
It is past time to look hard at spending. Maybe we need to bring in someone like Elon Musk or the DOGE team.
James A. Sanford
Eighty Four