State budget head warns of sharp cuts in new spending plan
Share with others:
HARRISBURG -- In the first public appearance by a Corbett administration cabinet member, Charles Zogby today blamed budget woes on gimmicks and manipulations executed by former Gov. Ed Rendell.
"All the one-time means, all the gimmicks have been utilized. We've kicked the can down the road long enough," Mr. Zogby, the new budget secretary, told the Pennsylvania Press Club at a luncheon today, eight days before Gov. Tom Corbett's budget address.
Those gimmicks, he later explained, include one-time revenue sources such as expiring stimulus funds, transfers from a rainy-day fund and "accounting gimmicks" that made spending levels appear lower than they actually were.
"All these fiscal realities have conspired to make the 2011-12 budget the year we get our fiscal house in order. The day of reckoning has arrived," he said. "No more reliance on federal stimulus funds, no more gimmicks, no more use of one-time funding sources.
"Instead, we're focused on core missions of government and making difficult choices to live within our means."
Mr. Zogby declined to offer any details of the budget his boss will propose on March 8, but suggested cuts will be made in virtually every area of government.
The cuts are needed to compensate for a projected $4 billion deficit. Mr. Corbett has promised not to raise taxes or fees.
"He will use a promises-made, promises-kept approach" to the budget, Mr. Zogby said.
First Published February 28, 2011 2:10 pm
