Gov. Rendell Announces Additional $500 Million in Cuts to Proposed PA Budget

HARRISBURG – Governor Edward G. Rendell today released a list of cuts totaling $500 million to his proposed 2009-10 fiscal year budget. Combined with more than $500 million in spending eliminated during the current fiscal year, plus other reductions that he previously announced to his projected budget, the Governor has now trimmed $2 billion from state spending during the current national economic downturn.

“Like so many of the cutbacks that we have made before, these reductions are painful to me and I understand they will be painful to the people who benefit from the affected programs. But the reductions are necessary,” Governor Rendell said. “I want Pennsylvanians to know that we continue trying to spread the burden of balancing our budget as fairly and evenly as possible.

“This proposal cuts or completely eliminates nearly 80 percent of all General Fund budget lines from their current level in the budget that was signed into law last July. Twenty-six percent of all budget lines are completely eliminated and of the remaining appropriations that we propose to fund, 70 percent will be reduced from their 2008-09 enacted budget levels,” the Governor said. “We cut further, accepted or partially accepted 53 percent of the cuts that were proposed in Senate Bill 850.”

Additional cuts to arts and culture in the Governor's new proposal include:

• elimination of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission's (PHMC) support to regional museums including the Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania Museum, and the Mercer Museum. 
• an additional $7.5 million cut to public libraries.
• an additional $149,000 cut to administrative support for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA).

Funding for PHMC's Museum Assistance Grants Program was not restored in this proposal, nor was support for public broadcasting.  PCA's total proposed cut now stands at just over 12%, and the public library subsidy cuts at 10%.

Overall, 229 line items would be impacted by the Governor's latest round of spending reductions. Compared to the current fiscal year, the Governor has now cut three out of every four line items, totally eliminating 163 of them and reducing another 328.

For additional information, visit the Office of the Budget.