Everett, Wash.
Published: Thursday, March 13, 2008

State budget wrangling goes to final day

Partisan jousting is expected as the Legislature finalizes two multibillion-dollar budget supplements to end the session

By Jerry Cornfield
Herald Writer

 OLYMPIA -- Before state legislators wrap up the 2008 session today, they will be talking about how best to spend the taxpayers' money.

Awaiting their action are two multibillion-dollar budget proposals covering everything from hiking teacher pay and tracking greenhouse gas emissions to repairing a roof on a community center in Everett and assisting providers of low-cost health care on Camano Island.

Heavy partisan jousting is likely when the operating budget cobbled together by House and Senate Democrats comes up for a vote.

The plan issued today adds another $306 million to the current two-year budget of $33.4 billion while keeping $835.7 million in reserves. There might have been additional spending and savings but the most recent economic forecast curbed several hundred million dollars from the expected pot of cash.

"Compared to last year, this was a much more difficult process," said Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, the vice-chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

"We weren't able to fulfill as many requests as we wanted to."

Republicans said they filled too many, given that the governor's budget office predicts the state will have a $2.4 billion deficit by the end of the next biennium.

"Seeing how this sets the stage for tax increases or steep spending cuts next session and knowing how unpopular tax increases are, I had hoped the budget writers would try to bring spending more in line with the projected revenue," said Sen. Joseph Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, the ranking GOP member on the Senate budget committee.

"Take out the money for the rainy day fund, which I'm sure glad we have, and the reserve available ends up at $389 million. That's nothing out of the ordinary," he said.

Pridemore shrugged off the Republican perspective.

"The great advantage of predicting doom and gloom every year is that eventually you'll be right," he said.

The Democrats' budget gives teachers an additional half-percent raise on top of the 3.9 percent hike already budgeted for the next fiscal year. It also pours dollars into special-education programs, maintaining libraries, assisting non-English speaking students, covering rising costs of Washington assessment of student learning and preparing end-of-course assessments as a WASL alternative.

The budget includes nearly $6.2 million to set up a statewide paid family leave program that lawmakers have yet to figure out how to finance. Democrats also include money for Pridemore's proposed tax credit for working families, though it won't start until 2010 and is contingent on available funds.

Also set for approval are a few tax breaks that may help private and public entities in Snohomish County.

One allows firms doing tooling used in the manufacture of Boeing airplanes to pay a lower business and occupation tax rate, putting it in line with other companies doing aerospace-related work.

The fiscal impact is relatively modest, said Rep. Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo, "but it is a vote of confidence for our aerospace industry. This is the one bright spot in our economy."

Another tax break will benefit the Snohomish County Public Utility District and other entities trying to generate power from tides and waves. The budget offers the same incentives to pursuers of tidal and wave energy as those now given for solar and wind power development.

The capital budget will generate more smiles and less bickering.

In Island County, the ­Camano Community Health Clinic is slated to receive $500,000 while the Cliff Bailey center in Everett will get $302,000 for a new roof. Another $160,000 is earmarked for the YWCA-run community center in the Somerset Village Apartments in Lynnwood

Statewide, the biggest single item is $70 million to help residents get into affordable housing or weatherize their current homes.



Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.

Budget plan

Bottom line: Proposed supplemental Washington state operating budget adds a net of $306 million to the current two-year budget of $33.4 billion.

Salt some away: Plan leaves reserve of $835 million, higher than previous legislative plans, but lower than the $900 million the governor had sought.

Big winners: Education, Medicaid, foster care, family planning, housing, lawsuits against the state, long-term care, environmental and climate change programs, public safety. Plan preserves 10-year phase-in of free daylong kindergarten. Teachers get a 4.4 percent pay boost in the next school year.

Next up: Both houses planned to pass operating and construction budgets today. Gov. Gregoire will have 20 days to consider partial vetoes. Operating budget, House Bill 2687, is available at the Legislature's Web site at www.leg.wa.gov.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA