Governor, Senate, Counties Brace for Budget Vote

The budget is the terrain on which the largest political battles -- real and symbolic -- get played out……..For Governor Lynch, this is a chance to prove that can live up to his campaign persona of being a leader who can keep an eye on the a bottom line and still look out for people.…..Lynch's success hinges on whether lawmakers will accept his robust estimates for state revenues. Lynch spoke to reporters last week.

"The revenue is there to do what we need to do to meet the needs of the people in NH. And I will be fighting hard for that budget that I originally submitted and fighting hard to restore the cuts that were made to that budget."

From the outset, paying for the budget has been at issue……And from the moment he unveiled his spending plan in February, top state Republicans have assailed the governor as someone unwilling to make tough choices.

"The only two things he's promised to do was increase state employees and raise taxes, and by golly, he's trying to do both."

Warren Henderson is chairman of the republican state committee……For him the budget debate is an opportunity to show that republicans can live according to their principles.

"The Republicans obviously are championing a smaller budget, a smaller rate of increase in the growth of government, and therefore a more tightly managed state government."

And according to the Senate's top budget writers, that approach has achieved a tight budget without appreciable pain. Senate finance committee chairman Chuck Morse claimed as much while briefing colleagues on the budget Monday.

"We've done a lot with this budget and with it we've tried to make it so there are no cuts to services. The people of NH can be confident that the Senate has maintained the safety net for our residents."

It would be easier for Republicans to score rhetorical points if they did not have naysayers within their own party… Republican Senator Dick Green of Rochester says the senate's current budget proposal imposes real hardships.

"They've basically reduced services in health and human services, especially to the elderly at the county level. They've certainly affected the DD list in terms of disabilities for adults. They've certainly affected the whole issue of healthy kids program, which is a key program we all support. The other big piece in health and human services is everything the house took out in granite care, the Senate put it back in."

Green says he and Democratic Senator Sylvia Larsen will introduce an amendment to restore funding in these and other areas, including the L-Chip program and the University System. Green says the amendment relies on no additional taxes. Instead, it adopts revenue projections similar to those contained in the Governor's budget……Green's says the Governor's forcast is reasonable…..But in the current political landscape, that point of view is far from universal -- even among Democrats.

"There was a fairly significant difference in the governor's estimates between the estimates on the Senate ways and means committee, and that's a tough one."

Democrat Lou D'Allessandro is chairman of the ways and means committee. He admits he'd like to add money to the budget, but says given the state of the economy, the possible closure of the Naval shipyard, he can live with the senate's revenue and spending choices.

"I’ll be on board with what the Senate finance committee did…..what the senate ways and means did……I think the committee did a great job, and in this business if you are on the committee and work with the committee you support the committee."

As the Senators wrestle with the budget, outside of Concord there is a different concern. The state might be able to balance its books, but that doesn’t mean that the costs they cut will disappear. There are worries that taxpayers at the local and county level will pick up some of the burden. Carroll County Commissioner David Sorenson says the current senate budget plan would force his county to raise an additional $125,000.

"Now some of the other bigger counties are going to be hit tremendously. Now it doesn't seem fair….. To them in Concord it seems the easy way out -- to pass the buck down to the counties and have the counties come up with the taxes."

Even after the senate does it's work there will be further changes…….There will be continuing discussion as to whether cuts are actually cuts…….and to whether revenue projections turn into actual money……..And
on top of that, the question of how the state will pay for schools is still up in the air……It's not a situation conducive to anyone scoring political points.