HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania school districts have borrowed more than $346 million so far to get through the state budget impasse, the auditor general said Tuesday, as Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed a short-term spending measure proposed by Republicans.
Borrowing costs such as interest and fees for the districts could reach as high as $11.2 million, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said.
State payments to school districts that normally would have been distributed have been halted because Democratic Gov. Wolf and the Republican-controlled Legislature have been unable to reach a final budget agreement. Mr. Wolf vetoed a Republican-crafted spending plan June 30; the two sides have been negotiating since then but appear to have made little progress in the three months since.
“The cost is going to keep going up each and every month,” Mr. DePasquale said, as more districts are forced to borrow money.
The auditor general released information Tuesday based on a survey of hundreds of districts across the state. Locally, districts among those having to borrow are the Clairton City, McKeesport Area, Sto-Rox and Aliquippa, according to Mr. DePasquale’s office.
Shortly after noon, the governor’s office announced that Mr. Wolf had followed through on his promise to veto the Republican-crafted stopgap spending plan.
The governor had characterized the stopgap budget, which would have provided four months of funding at the levels of the Republican budget he vetoed June 30, as an impediment to serious negotiations on a full-year budget.
“Just like their sham budget in June, this stopgap budget makes it clear that Republican leaders not only want to do nothing to move the commonwealth forward, but they are intent on taking us backwards,” Mr. Wolf said in a statement.
Senate Republican leaders decried the veto, saying Mr. Wolf had refused schools and community organizations needed funding.
“We are deeply troubled that the governor has elected to hold vital services hostage,” Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman said in a statement. “This does not have to happen — the money is there and our state hasn't stopped collecting taxes. We are simply attempting to end unnecessary hardship while efforts to enact a full budget continue.”
Mr. Wolf and legislative leaders met twice behind closed doors Monday, but did not indicate after the sessions that progress had been made.
The governor has pushed for increases to the sales and personal incomes taxes to boost education funding and provide relief from local property taxes. Republicans oppose the tax increases and are pushing for changes to the pension systems for state and public school workers and an end to the state business in alcohol sales.
First Published: September 29, 2015, 4:31 p.m.
Updated: September 30, 2015, 3:02 a.m.