March 26, 2007

Ahern, Spokane leaders, rip House operating budget

Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane, and several other Spokane area community leaders are highly critical of the state operating budget approved today by the House of Representatives.

The House approved the $33.4 billion budget on a 62-35 vote. It will have to be reconciled with the Governor’s original budget proposal and with the Senate proposal expected to be announced later this week.

“This is a terrible budget,” Ahern said, speaking from Chicago where he was receiving the Lifesavers 2007 Public Service Award from the U.S. Department of Transportation. He received the award for his work strengthening Washington’s drunken driving laws last year.

“The budget raises spending by 18 percent over the next two years and a total of 33 percent since the Governor took office. Even the Governor’s own budget people say this House budget will turn a $2.2 billion surplus into a $2 billion deficit in a couple of years. That is just irresponsible,” Ahern said.

Diana Wilhite, owner of Safeguard Business Printing and Promotional Products, and Mayor of Spokane Valley said, “Local governments and small businesses like mine always have to live within our budget.” She said Washington is known for its economic peaks and valleys, “and the nature of the taxes the state collects has the same peaks and valleys.

“The state has to maintain a healthy reserve in order to maintain current levels of services when the economy softens so that we don’t have to go through the process of raising sales taxes of business and operations taxes to cover the shortfalls,” she said. Wilhite also expressed concerns about continuing unfunded state mandates on local governments.

“Those put the pressure on us to either raise local taxes to pay for the state mandates or cut budgets in other areas.”

Curt Fackler of Spokane, a retired benefits administrator and now owner of U.S. Tax Credits, questioned the priorities of the House budget.

“They would rather hire 3,800 more employees than put some of the existing surplus into paying down the billions of dollars of debt in the state pension funds,” he said. Two years ago, the Legislature said that if any additional money came into the state from economic growth, that money would go to paying down the pension shortfalls, but that isn’t happening.

“Union people I know have told me that the state made them some promises in their retirements and the state will have to pay,” Fackler said. “In their opinion, if that means raising taxes, then raise taxes.”

“That’s the Democrat way,” said Robin Ball, owner of the Sharp Shooting Indoor Range and Gun Shop of Spokane. “If they can’t tax and spend, they just spend. It’s something they have perfected over the years.”

Ball also was critical of steadily increasing costs in Unemployment Insurance and fees for Labor and Industries.

“Small businesses really notice these things and they affect the bottom line,” she said. “And when the state is taking more money out of people’s pockets, small businesses feel the affect of that, too. Places like my business, theaters and restaurants rely on people’s discretionary income to stay in business and when the state is taking that money away from individuals, we all suffer.”

Rep. Ahern said he is not optimistic about negotiations concerning a final budget before the legislative session ends on April 22.

“We don’t have a revenue problem right now, but we sure have a spending problem that is more like an addiction,” he said.

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