Budget Agreement: $28 Billion

Member Group : Pennsylvania Independent

Increases spending by $182 million next year

JUNE 29, 2010 | by ERIC BOEHM

After legislators met long into the night on Monday and finally reached an agreement with the governor on Tuesday afternoon, Pennsylvania’s budget for fiscal year 2010-2011 has been finalized and is expected to be passed by the June 30 deadline for the first time in seven years.

The final spending figure for next year’s General Fund will be $28.052 billion, an increase of $182 million from the current fiscal year. But the budget is balanced precariously, counting on $850 million in federal taxpayer money, which is far from guaranteed at the moment, an unknown amount of money from a severance tax on natural gas drilling, the details of which will not be nailed down until October, and between $100 million and $150 million in one-time fund transfers from funds outside the General Fund.

Despite the many questions surrounding the budget, Gov. Ed Rendell called it a "good budget for the people of Pennsylvania," and a "conservative budget" reflecting the loss of revenues the state experienced this year. Click here for more.

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