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Commissioner Balya Challenges State Legislators to Cut Legislative Budget
Posted 7-13-09
Tom Balya, Chairman of the Westmoreland County
Board of Commissioners, is calling upon members of the
Pennsylvania General Assembly during the current state budget
impasse to identify what budget sacrifices they will make
directly to save tax money.
"While we've heard a lot about tough times and
painful choices, we've yet to hear from either party's leaders
about what sacrifices they will be making to balance the
budget," Balya said. "For starters, the age-old practice of
taxpayer-financed promotional mail should be halted immediately.
That promotional information should be sent to constituents
electronically, if at all, rather than printed and mailed. But
if legislators insist on doing these archaic mailings, they
should pay for them out of their own campaign accounts.
"True leadership is by example, and it appears
that their legislative Initiative Grant program – essentially
discretionary money to be handed out by members – is not
proposed to be cut, neither are publicly-funded vehicles or per
diems for days spent at their jobs."
As an elected leader of Westmoreland County
government Balya is responsible for ensuring the most vulnerable
members of our communities are served through programs mandated
by Pennsylvania law. Recent state budget proposals cut programs
to serve those most needy citizens; yet no cuts that would
affect legislators directly have been identified.
"It is shameful that our state legislators
propose cuts to programs for our most vulnerable while they sit
on a $200 million slush fund," Balya said. "If there is waste,
let's find it and cut it out. But in these tough times it should
not be business-as-usual for the legislature – particularly the
largest, and most expensive, full-time legislature in the
country." |
