Legislators, commissioners discuss issues at chamber luncheon
Roberto M. Esquivel|Herald-Standard
StateRep. Pam Snyder, D- Jefferson, introduces herself to local officials and business leaders during a legislative luncheon hosted by the Fayette Chamber of Commerce and held at the Hilton Garden Inn in South Union Township. Also pictured is state Sen. Pat Stefano, R-Bullskin Township.
Roberto M. Esquivel|Herald-Standard
State Rep. Bud Cook, R-Coal Center, looks back to his fellow legislators as he introduces himself to constituents during a legislative luncheon hosted by the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce and held at the Hilton Garden Inn in South Union Township.
Roberto M. Esquivel|Herald-Standard
State Rep. Ryan Warner, R-Perryopolis, introduces himself to constituents during a legislative luncheon hosted Friday in South Union Township.
Roberto M. Esquivel|Herald-Standard
A recent legislative luncheon hosted by the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce and held at the Hilton Garden Inn gave local officials and business leaders the opportunity to connect with local legislators.
Roberto M. Esquivel|Herald-Standard
State Rep. Matthew Dowling, R-Uniontown, introduces himself to constituents during a legislative luncheon hosted Friday in South Union Township.
State legislators and Fayette County commissioners gave their opinions on issues impacting the economy and businesses at the Fayette Chamber of Commerce’s annual luncheon with legislators Friday.
The legislators were asked for their views on business taxes, the state employee pension system, transportation funding created under Act 89 and the minimum wage.
Sen. Pat Stefano, R-Bullskin Twp., said the budget proposed by Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, does not contain broad based tax increases, but it increases taxes on businesses to increase revenue.
Raising business taxes is the wrong way to generate more revenue and doesn’t address the cause of the cause of the revenue shortfall, he said.
“The pension crisis. That’s were our money is going,” Stefano said.
He said the state must address the $70 billion unfunded liability in the pension system. School districts, he said, have difficulty paying salaries because of the contributions they have to pay toward pensions.
Wolf’s proposal to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $12 an hour would devastate small businesses including his own.
“I would have to layoff half my staff,” Stefano said.
If forced to pay $12 an hour, business owners would want experienced employees and young people wouldn’t get hired, he said.
Raising the minimum wage to $8.75 in increments of 50 cents over three years is a better idea, he said.
Act 89 is providing money to replace 80-year-old bridges that were designed to last 50 years, he said, but $800 million is being used to fund the state police. The state police allocation is capped at that amount and is scheduled to decrease 4 percent to $500 million, he said.
Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, said pension reforms created in Act 120 of 2010 have reduced employee benefits and state obligations, but the liability in the pension fund must be paid off.
“It’s working,” said Snyder, the only Democratic legislator in attendance.
The annual income of full-time employee receiving the minimum wage is below the poverty level, she said.
She said she support an increase, but not to $12 an hour.
Wolf’s business tax proposal would close a loophole that allows business to shelter in other states to avoid paying taxes, Snyder said.
The corporate net income tax hurts small businesses and should be reduced, she said.
Rep. Ryan Warner, R- Perryopolis, said Wolf’s proposal would close corporate tax loopholes and expand the sales tax.
“We have the highest corporate tax rate in the country,” Warner said.
He said he supports closing the loopholes and lowering taxes for all businesses.
Warner said the tax credit program is “corporate welfare” and should be eliminated.
Act 120 has helped in diminishing the pension problem, but it hasn’t disappeared and hasn’t done nearly enough, he said.
Legislators created the problem many years ago by increasing their pensions and, to avoid a public outcry, increased the pensions for all state employees, Warner said. Due to a strong economy at the time, the Legislature stopped funding for the pension plan and spent the money elsewhere, he said.
He said the state should not be involved with employee pensions.
“I don’t trust politicians with the pension fund,” Warner said, drawing laughter and applause from the audience. “I trust myself. I don’t trust anyone else.”
Raising the minimum wage to $12 is not feasible, he said, adding that he supports inimal increases tied to the rate of inflation.
Transportation funding under Act 89 is a budgeting problem that Warner said could be remedied by two bills he will introduce this week.
One bill would hold government agencies accountable for their spending and require an evaluation of agency efficiency and the second bill would limit the amount of money the government can spend, he said.
The state’s population hasn’t increased 10 percent since 1970, but state spending has increased 1000 percent since then and state spending has doubled since 2000, he said.
Rep. Matthew Dowling, R-Uniontown, said the budget has doubled since 2000, but “things are not twice as good.”
The pension fund liability must be paid off, he said, describing the pension problem as “bad promises made to good people.”
Young residents travel to Maryland and West Virginia for jobs because those states have higher minimum wages, but raising it to $12 would be too much, Dowling said.
Raising too high could result in fewer jobs and more automation, he said.
He said he supports incremental increases.
Business taxes are too high and must be reduced, Dowling said.
He said he does not support expanding the sales taxes. People from West Virginia account for 20 percent of the retail sales in the area and raising the sales tax would jeopardize those sales, he said.
Rep. Bud Cook, R-Coal Center, government expenses should be reduced by consolidating agencies and employee attrition.
He said the plan to replace Route 88 bridge in Charleroi includes closing the road for two months in September while school is in session. The impact on retail shops in Charleroi would be significant.
Using a prefabricated bridge for the replacement would require a road closure of only two weeks, Cook said.
He said he supports an incremental increase in the minimum wage and not an increase to $12 an hour.
Fayette County Commissioners Vincent Vicites, Angela Zimmerlink and Dave Lohr also outlined some of their accomplishments and goals.