Appropriations meetings don’t start for another week, so I can only
guess right now, but Speaker Black said the General Assembly’s top
priority is education. That means more money for teacher pay.
Other state employees are unlikely to be as lucky. I don’t know what
other goodies Gov. Easley has planned for schools, but with the new
education lottery, he might feel like he has Felix the Cat‘s Magic Bag of Tricks.
I also look to a number of proposals to expand the state’s role in health care
with tax credits to small employers, Medicaid expansions, a local
version of Healthy New York and a subsidized high risk insurance pool.
All of these would become growing portions of the budget.
About
the best idea to come from the House Select Committee on Health Care
last week was to use savings from Medicare Part D (prescription drugs)
to cap the county share of Medicaid and reduce the amount the most burdened counties pay. This is the best chance counties have had in some time to shed this growing cost.
Notice
I didn’t mention an end to the half-cent sales tax or the 8.25% income
tax rate. I also don’t expect much effort to stop the next programmed
hike in the gas tax — the election isn’t until November and the only
way it becomes an issue is if there’s a vote on the floor.
So there you have it, another billion gone without anyone having to bat an eye.
