HARRISBURG -- The state House opened discussions today on the state's 2010-11 budget, but whether legislators meet the July 1 deadline for the first time in eight years is anyone's guess.

State Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadephia, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said his "goal" is to have the House approve and send to the Senate a budget proposal by May 1, but he didn't absolutely commit to that target date. His panel is due to complete its discussions with state departments on their new spending requests by late February.

Last year, the fiscal 2009-10 budget wasn't adopted until Oct. 9 -- more than three months late -- and the complete budget actually wasn't adopted until just three weeks ago, when the final piece of revenue, $200 million from the new table games at casinos, was adopted.

Lawmakers want to get the next budget adopted by July 1 so they can go home to their districts and campaign this summer. All 203 House seats and half of the 50 Senate seats will be up for grabs in November.

However, this is the final year of Gov. Ed Rendell's second term, and some lawmakers, especially Republicans, fear he may propose a personal income tax increase when he makes his 2010-11 budget proposal Feb. 9.

Lawmakers running for re-election are unlikely to want to increase taxes, so a stalemate could ensue, since Mr. Rendell won't be facing the voters anymore.

He has already said the current fiscal year could end June 30 with a revenue shortfall of up to $450 million, with revenue problems continuing in 2010-11, since the federal stimulus funds will be coming to an end by late this year and the recession continues to hurt state revenues.

So an increase in some type of state tax might be needed to balance the next budget, although Mr. Rendell has already told departments to set aside about $160 million into a budget reserve that won't be spent if revenues fall short.

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