Your Saturday story on the upcoming special session prompts me to offer some thoughts on the situation.
There are two very different philosophies at work concerning this year's budget. One side wants to spend every dollar, including all our reserves, and spend every stimulus dollar available in an effort to pull us out of the current recession. This is the approach of our current Congress and I think this will ultimately fail and cost us trillions in long-term debt.
The other side (including me) wants to spend only what is necessary to continue providing services without having to make major cuts in those services. We feel that the stimulus money Indiana receives should be spent only on one-time projects that will create jobs, but not add to the ongoing budget after the money is gone.
Government is not known for ending programs that it starts, and if stimulus money is spent on programs there will need to be a tax increase two years down the road to continue those programs.
The budget that failed to pass the House spent $2.9 billion more than the last budget - a 9-percent increase. Taxpayers cannot afford a 9-percent increase in their budgets, so neither can government.
Some have questioned why I voted against that budget since it included a $10 million appropriation to build our new Ivy Tech facility, but the fact that the overall budget was so bloated I could not in good conscience support it.
I am confident the Ivy Tech money will be included in any budget that will ultimately pass, and I will work to see that that happens. I am hopeful that there will be an agreement between the two sides before the governor calls us back, but it is going to be difficult to accomplish.
What is the middle ground between spending everything or saving for a rainier day? The cost of a special session is about $75,000 a week. That is a lot of money, but if it results in a budget that saves taxpayers over $1 billion, it will be worth it. As always, I would appreciate your thoughts.
