Governor Rendell Urges Adequate Budget Funding to Avoid Local Property Tax Hikes

MCDONALD, Pa., July 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania's next state
budget must adequately invest in education in order to avoid local property
tax increases, Governor Edward G. Rendell said today during a visit to the
Fort Cherry School District in Washington County.

The Governor cautioned that a budget plan offered and approved by Senate
Republicans would force school districts to hike property taxes and cut
programs.

"I am not willing to accept their budget -- which is already $1.5 billion out
of balance, as the economy has continued to slip -- because it is
counter-productive to turning around our economy," Governor Rendell said. "In
addition, a failure at the state level to fund essential programs and services
simply shifts the tax burden to the local level."

The Governor was joined by officials including Washington County commissioners
Bracken Burns and Larry Maggi, director of curriculum Dr. Trisha Craig, and
school board treasurer Elmo Cecchetti. They discussed how a failure by the
General Assembly to adequately fund state-mandated services would create the
need for local tax increases.

Governor Rendell stressed that he and his administration are working to
balance the budget in the face of a struggling national economy, and said
those efforts include making painful but necessary funding reductions to many
important programs.

"Make no mistake -- we must make cuts to the budget, and we are. I have
proposed $2 billion in cuts over the last year, and I recently announced $500
million in cuts -- many to programs for which I care deeply," the Governor
said. "But I will not stand by and allow cuts that threaten our ability to dig
ourselves out of this recession and compete in the long-run. And that is
exactly what Senate Bill 850 does by cutting more than a billion dollars out
of education funding."

The Governor noted that according to the General Assembly's own Costing-Out
Report, the Fort Cherry School District is missing $2,093 per pupil from what
it takes to provide a quality education. The school district is counting on
the $225,000 basic education funding increase proposed by the Governor using
stimulus funds that are intended for education. If the district does not get
this increase they would have to significantly dip into their fund balance and
potentially raise property taxes next year.

"Now if the Senate takes away the school funding formula increase, Fort Cherry
will have no choice but to empty its fund balance or to make drastic program
cuts," the Governor added. "And that means that Fort Cherry and school
districts like it will have only one place left to turn: to their homeowners
in the form of higher local property taxes.

"We face an extraordinarily difficult budget situation as a result of the
national recession, and we need to work in a bipartisan way to reach a
solution," Governor Rendell said. "But let me be clear: balancing this budget
on the backs of homeowners and students is no solution at all."

For more information on the 2009-10 education budget, visit
www.pde.state.pa.us.

The Rendell administration is committed to creating a first-rate public
education system, protecting our most vulnerable citizens and continuing
economic investment to support our communities and businesses.To find out more
about Governor Rendell's initiatives and to sign up for his weekly newsletter,
visit www.governor.state.pa.us.
CONTACT:
Chuck Ardo
717-783-1116

SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of the Governor

Chuck Ardo of Pennsylvania Office of the Governor, +1-717-783-1116