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Lawmakers raise budget
stakes before finishing session
Lawmakers wrapped up the
2005 legislative session with a two-year operating budget agreement that
raises the level of spending higher than any previous proposal. Deputy
House Republican Leader
Mike
Armstrong said he was disappointed by the
lack of bipartisan cooperation to develop a balanced budget without
raising taxes. Instead, the Legislature approved a Democrat budget that
increases spending by 12.4 percent and relies on nearly half a billion
dollars in tax increases.
“We’re told the increases
in this budget are needed to pay for kids and health care, but the
biggest increase in this budget is for the governor’s office which is
getting a budget increase of 38 percent,” said Armstrong, R-Wenatchee,
who serves on the House budget committee. “This is the largest budget
increase in 14 years and there’s been no real effort to fix the spending
problems in the budget that make it unsustainable. We have $1.7 billion
in additional revenue. We could have balanced this budget without tax
increases and without harming core services.”
Armstrong noted that in addition to tax increases, the budget shifts
$233 million in one-time money for other accounts used for public safety
and health care to pay for general fund expenditures. He said using
one-time money to pay for ongoing expenses leaves the taxpayers with a
shortfall of more than $1 billion in the next biennium.
“This budget is
jury-rigged with shifts of spending and revenue from one account to the
next, in order to raise the spending limit and give the appearance that
key services won’t be funded without tax increases,” said Armstrong. “It
makes it difficult for the public to understand how their money is
spent, and to the extent it is not understandable, it is not
accountable.”
Lawmakers also approved a $9 billion transportation funding package that
calls for a 9.5 cent gas tax increase, along with other fees. Armstrong
said the overall impact on taxpayers is troubling.
“We all recognize the need
to invest in infrastructure and improve transportation to make our roads
safer and support our economy,” said Armstrong. “However, with the
budget and the tax increases we’ve passed, the taxpayers are going to
feel as though government is piling-on rather supporting families and
employers in a way that will lead to a faster economic growth and
prosperity.”
Armstrong said lawmakers
also came up short this session in addressing the critical priorities of
making more affordable private health insurance options available to
consumers and restoring public confidence in election by fixing serious
problems identified in the last governor’s race.
The 2005 legislative
session adjourned late Sunday.
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For more information, contact:
John
Sattgast, Public Information Officer: (360) 786-7257
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