Jul 11, 2007 By Kori Walter For The 4 min read

HARRISBURG – The budget showdown between Gov. Ed Rendell and state lawmakers cost nearly 24,000 state workers one day’s pay. The impasse cut short – or delayed – camping and fishing trips to state parks at the height of vacation season.

So what did Pennsylvania taxpayers gain by enduring a partial state government shutdown on Monday?

After nine days of sometimes bitter disagreements, both Rendell and lawmakers highlighted areas of the roughly $27.5 billion budget that residents should appreciate.

Rendell pointed to what he called historic funding levels for mass transit and state-owned highways and bridges. The state will spend an average of $900 million per year keeping buses and trains running and patching up faltering bridges and highways.

“If you ride mass transit, you are going to think this is a heck of a budget,” Rendell said.

The governor said parents also should be pleased. About $175 million in state aid will pay for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes and laptop computers for high school students.

Lawmakers boasted that they found a way to increase spending without hiking taxes.

“As long as we don’t have to raise taxes and we get that transportation funding in the bill, I’m satisfied,” said Rep. Tim Mahoney, (D-Uniontown).

Although the budget does not call for increasing taxes, drivers will see toll hikes on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and tolls will be added to Interstate 80 starting in 2009.

The toll hikes and the turnpike commission’s borrowing of $400 million will pay for the transportation package.

Mahoney said he believed the worker furloughs turned up the heat on both lawmakers and the governor to reach an agreement.

“I think the Democrats played it right, and the furloughs really triggered this deal,” he said.

Rep. Jim Marshall, a Beaver County Republican, called the furloughs a ploy by the governor to ram his agenda through the Legislature.

“I don’t think it resulted in anything positive for the taxpayers of the state,” Marshall said of the shutdown. “Who can calculate the losses that we suffered in the state through tourism and recreation loses? Aside from that, our workers may never regain that money lost from a day off work. That’s an injustice in itself.”

Administration officials estimated workers lost a total of $3.5 million in wages due to their one-day layoff.

Chris Novak, a Department of Conservation and Natural Resources spokeswoman, estimated the state lost hundreds of thousands of dollars by closing state parks.

That estimate included lost camp site rental fees, swimming fees, money generated by park concessions and other revenues, Novak said.

Sen. Gerald J. LaValle, a Beaver County Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said most elements of the tentative budget deal were in place by last weekend – several hours before Rendell ordered the shutdown.

“I think we were just not quite ready to do it,” LaValle said, referring to a budget deal.

LaValle said he was happy with the $150 million earmarked for improvements at Pittsburgh International Airport and increases for mass transit, which will help agencies in Beaver County and New Castle.

LaValle and other lawmakers agreed a major turning point in the talks occurred when Rendell backed off his demands to pass an $850 million energy plan.

The Legislature agreed to hold a special session in September devoted to ideas for developing alternative energy and incentives for energy conservation.

Rendell withdrew his controversial proposal for imposing a surcharge on electric bills to pay for state grants and tax credits that would encourage residents to buy energy-efficient appliances.

The administration estimated the average residential customer would have paid an extra $5.40 per year for power, but lawmakers worried that the surcharge would have stung schools, municipalities and businesses.

“I’m pleased that the energy package is going to be done in a special session,” said Deberah Kula, D-North Union Twp. “I just did not feel like I totally understood the whole package.”

Rep. Peter J. Daley, a Washington County Democrat whose district includes parts of Fayette, was disappointed the energy package was a casualty of budget negotiations.

“I think the people of Pennsylvania have lost,” Daley said. “That package would have created an energy independence board that could have done some really interesting projects.”