Pa. state workers set to begin 'payless paydays'

HARRISBURG - Tens of thousands of state employees today will receive what likely will be their last paycheck before they are expected to start showing up for work without compensation.

And those checks will be smaller than normal.

Because of the ongoing state budget standoff that is choking the Capitol, about 33,000 workers will take home 70 percent of what they regularly earn.

Starting next Friday, the situation will worsen, as 44,000 more employees will receive what could be their last check, containing only 20 percent of their customary pay.

The "payless paydays," will continue until the Rendell administration and the legislature compromise and enact a budget that was due July 1.

Gov. Rendell has said repeatedly that he would rather get the budget done right, with increased funding for education, than on time.

"As much as I care about our employees, I don't care about them quite as much as I do . . . the millions of children in this commonwealth who need the opportunity to produce at their full potential," said Rendell, who is among those who will see their paycheck chopped next week.

Rendell, who is paid $174,914 annually, said he never looks at his check because he uses direct deposit and his wife, Marjorie, handles the family finances.

State workers will receive full back pay once the budget deal is struck. But few expect that to happen soon.

Although the House yesterday spent hours debating the best way to break the deadlock - and is expected to do so again today - it remains divided over how to craft a final budget in the midst of a recession.

"That's the frustrating thing. We're not sitting at the negotiating table with the budget, and we have no control over what's happening," said David R. Fillman, executive director of Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 45,000 state workers.

"There is very little we can do, aside from pushing the two sides to get together and do their jobs," he added.

The Rendell administration has tried to lessen the pain by recruiting about 30 credit unions and banks to offer short-term no-interest loans to most state workers who need them.

Many hope it doesn't get to that point.

In floor speeches yesterday, Democrats and Republicans lined up to bicker over two competing fiscal plans.

One, proposed by Democrats who control the chamber, calls for balancing the budget by removing $1.2 billion in funding from state-owned universities and community colleges. Lawmakers, under the plan, would return in the fall to find ways to fund those institutions.

The other budget, offered by House Republicans, would use one-time options, such as an amnesty program to collect delinquent taxes, while cutting spending by 2 percent from last year.

Democrats argued that the GOP plan cuts too severely into programs ranging from classrooms to nursing homes and relies on one-time sources of revenue.

"This economy is not the fault of the Republicans or the Democrats or the governor. It is not the time of pointing fingers at anyone," said Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.), chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

Republicans said their plan is the only one that balances the budget and funds core government programs - including higher education - without raising taxes.

"It is not a pretty thing," Rep. Kate Harper (R., Montgomery) said of her party's fiscal blueprint. ". . . But in a bad time, it does the job."

The competing House versions are different from ones offered by Senate Republicans that contain broad funding cuts, and the one offered by Rendell, who is pushing a 16 percent hike in the state's income tax rate to help fill the budget hole.