Rendell, legislative leaders reach budget deal

HARRISBURG - Gov. Rendell said his administration reached a deal with legislative leaders Tuesday on a $28 billion state budget for the next fiscal year.

The plan includes a $250 million increase in basic-education funding for public schools, an amount that is about $100 million less than what Rendell had proposed.

At a 3 p.m. news conference, Rendell called it "a good budget . . . a frugal budget," but stressed that it did not come without pain: he said there would be steep cuts to state parks, environmental programs, health care centers and libraries, among other items.

Rendell said the agreement also included a tax on natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale formation, although the details on how much that tax would be and what it would generate will be hashed out over the summer and fall.

An agreement on the tax must be reached by Oct. 1, the governor said.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) said the plan was to have the full Senate vote on the budget bill on Wednesday, which is the last day of the fiscal year.

The measure would then go to the House.

House Majority Leader Todd Eachus (D., Luzerne) cautioned that the General Assembly's rank-and-file had not seen the spending details - and that no deal is final until the rank-and-file had signed off on it.

"Until the members sign off on it, there is no deal," he said.

If the budget is approved by both chambers Wednesday, it would be the first time in Rendell's seven years in office that a budget has passed on time.

The approximately $28 billion plan would be an increase of less than 1 percent over the approved spending level in the nearly ended fiscal year.