Some Lawmakers Not Taking A Pay
by News Department on 08/10/15
Tobash among NEPA legislators not receiving salary during budget impasse
HARRISBURG — Several Northeast Pennsylvania lawmakers will not take paychecks while a state budget stalemate continues.
Sen. John Blake and Reps. Aaron Kaufer and Mike Tobash said they have gone without pay since the new fiscal year started July 1.
The majority of area lawmakers contacted continue to draw pay even as the stalemate has now reached its 41st day with no end in sight, but some may reevaluate that if local nonprofit agencies start to experience serious financial problems next month due to delayed state payments.
The current stalemate diff ers f rom earlier ones because state agencies are open for business and state employees are paid. State payments for welfare recipients and Medicaid programs continue to be made, but not payments to counties and nonprofits for locally run social services and subsidies for school districts.
“If schools and human service agencies aren’t getting paid I ought not be paid either,” Blake, D- 22, Archbald, said.
He said he would take the missing pay after a new budget is enacted.
Blake said his action is consistent with his cosponsorship of a Senate bill to withhold lawmakers’ pay until the signing of an annual state budget. These types of bills get introduced each session, but see little traction. Kaufer, R- 120, Kingston, said he does not think lawmakers should be paid when other items in the state budget are not funded. “I just don’t think legislators should be held to a different standard,” he said.
Tobash, R- 125, Pottsville, said he is not taking a salary because the job of passing a budget is not done yet. He said he will continue to work to resolve the budget and related issues, such as pension reform.
The money for lawmakers’ salaries and expenses comes from legislative caucus surpluses, which are dwindling as the stalemate drags on. Legislative leaders are considering securing lines of credit to finance caucus operations if the surpluses run dry.
A lawmaker’s base salary this year is $ 85,338.
Most area lawmakers now submit receipts for actual expanses for food, lodging and travel, but some still collect per diems — daily allowances to cover food and lodging while away from home on public business.
The current per diem in Harrisburg is $ 159.
Rep. Sid Michaels Kavulich, D- 114, Taylor, said he is collecting his paycheck because he goes to work each day. However, Kavulich said he would reconsider that decision if the stalemate goes into September and local nonprofit agencies feel the full impact.
“I’m not a wealthy man,” Rep. Jerry Knowles, R- 124, Tamaqua, said. “I need it ( salary) to pay the bills.”
But Knowles said he would reevaluate that decision each month if the stalemate continues.
Sens. John Yudichak, D- 14, Plymouth Township, and John Gordner, R- 27, Berwick, are taking the salary. They said lawmakers are covered by court decisions in recent years that state employees are to be paid for work done even during a budget stalemate.
“I consider myself a state employee,” Yudichak said.
The Senate filed a legal brief to support the lawsuit that led to the court decision, Gordner said.
The way this budget stalemate developed is cited by lawmakers of both parties to justify taking a salary.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf proposed a combination of tax increases and tax shifts to address a budget deficit, education funding and property tax relief. GOP lawmakers passed a budget holding the line on taxes and focusing instead on selling the state liquor stores and reducing pension benefits for new state government and school district employees.
Wolf vetoed that budget and related liquor and pension bills.
Sen. Lisa Baker, R- 20, Lehman Township, said not taking pay would put GOP lawmakers at a disadvantage negotiating with Wolf.
“The governor already holds a power position in the budget process, and the no-pay plan would increase the leverage of his veto,” she said.
Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D- 121, Wilkes- Barre, said his caucus had no part in shaping the GOP budget that was vetoed.
“Those guys are dead set on selling the liquor stores and the pensions, which doesn’t have anything to do with the budget,” he said.
“The Legislature did our job with passing the budget and we need to continue now to work to help our agencies that will soon be in crisis if the governor does not sign a budget,” Rep. Tarah Toohil, R- 116, Butler Township, said.
Reps. Marty Flynn, D- 113, Scranton; Mike Carroll, D- 118, Avoca; Gerald Mullery, D- 119, Newport Township, and Sen. David Argall, R- 29, Tamaqua, are taking a salary.
