State Ag Budget Best Ever?
(Continued (ram Pago A 1)
“It looks real good. It is, as far as
agriculture and rural programs are
concerned, the best budget that
I’ve seen in a long time and it’s the
best (agriculture and rural) budget
that anyone has seen in a long
time.” Crawford said.
However, Crawford, who is a
spokesman for Rep. Kenneth Cole,
chairman of the House agriculture
committee, said, “I’m not at all
pleased with the governor’s veto
(ofsl million for the animal health
commission). We took three steps
foward and one step back, but still
that’s two steps foward.”
Sheila Miller, executive director
of the Senate Agriculture and Rur
al Affairs Committee said she also
is pleased with the majority of
funding provided for agriculture.
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but was critical of the veto and the
decrease in the PDA’s operating
budget.
According to Miller, the
commission which was
formed in 1988 by combining
numerous animal disose research
and diagnostic programs and ser
vice, and animal indeminities
had its recommended funding of
$5.4 million originally decided by
a bipartisan group.
(The animal indemnities prog
ram has been removed from the
purview of the commission which
did not have authority to pay for
condemned animals. It is a sepa
rate line item with full funding.)
While budget negotiations were
ongoing in the four caucuses
(Republican and Democrat leader
ship core groups which meet in
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Ag Progress Days
Also On Display By
secret in each of the two legislative
bodies to woric out problems and
positions), the recommended level
of funding was reduced to $3,924
million.
By presstime, it could not be
determined how. who recom
mended, or when the cut from $5.4
million was made, but it was appa
rently done in an effort to eliminate
$lOO million in spending to com
ply with negotiation agreements.
The governor then used his line
item veto authority to eliminate
another $1 million.
Miller works for Sen. Edward
Helfrick, chairman of the Senate
Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Committee. He also lambasted
Casey for taking away the $1
million.
“(It) was a gesture of bad faith
at Center of Ag Progress Days
Lancaster Arming, Saturday, August 10, 1991-A37
that reflects his true attitude tow
ard agriculture in Pennsylvania,”
Helfrick said in a statement
“While the governor claims to
support agriculture and programs
benefitting rural areas, his arbi
trary decision to cut an appropria
tion that the General Assembly had
already decided was necessary for
the commission, once again
demonstrates his level of commit
ment to rural Pennsylvanians,” he
said.
Crawford said however, that
even with the reduced budget, the
commission may be able to do its
job. It needs to, he said, to prove it
is an effective agency.
“For the last two years, the com
mission has been studying the
diagnostic systems in Pennsylva
nia and other states. We are at the
point now for the train to leave the
station,” he said.
'll will be a bell weather yearfor
the commission. It will be an indi
cator of how effective the commis
sion can be,” he said. But two
things have to happen, Crawford
said.‘The commission has to exer
cise its statutory authority and the
burden is on the (Casey) admi
nistration to let it do the job it was
created to do.”
The PDA operating budgetactu
ally lost $131,000. But Casey had
sought to reduce it by at least
another $lOO,OOO.
Miller said that both budget
reductions for the commission
and PDA are not justified.
“The argument (by PDA Secret
ary Boyd Wolff) that the governor
is only being fair that the
Department of Agriculture is only
taking its lumps, like the others
is pretty weak,” Miller said.
“You can’t compare the depart
ment’s (PDA) budget to other
departments. And the only bright
spot in the Department of Ag’s
budget was the Animal Health
Commission line. And the gover
nor touted this as a master mind
program of his. And then to sud
denly pull the rug out from under
the commission seems to be a lack
of commitment on the part of the
governor,” she said.
And while those outside of the
state Department of Agriculture
have been critical of Casey for
those cuts and for the cuts to the
department’s operation budget.
Gene Schenck, agriculture press
secretary, said there is no criticism
coming from within.
As far as the ag department’s
total budget federal and state
funded that has been raised by
$1.67 million, mostly for program
costs, not for operations.
However. Schenck acknow
ledged that the reduced operating
budget would make getting the job
done more difficult
“We’re just going to have to
work even harder to keep them (the
department’s programs) going.
We’re going to continue to march.
“We’ve been operating with
tight operational budgets for years,
without cutting programs. We
don’t intend to stop. (The admi
nistration has) been demanding
increased efficiency,” he said.
“What we’re saying to our peo
ple is, don’t spend the money
doing what you do. We’re telling
people to keep on with the prog
ram, just don’t spend a lot of
money.”
Schenck, and others in the
department received their first
delayed paycheck Thursday. They
also will get no pay increase.
“From a taxpayer point of view,
and fanners are taxpayers, people
should be happy. These things
(cuts) have had to happen and we
have to keep the programs going
on,” he said.
Schenck did not defend Casey’s
slashing of the budget for the Ani
mal Health Commission, but he
said it was one of the highlights
I that the commission got an
increase over last year.
“There are a couple of things in
this budget worth mentioning.
Among those are the money for the
health commission,” he said.
Whether or not the funding will
be adequate for the commission to
properly carry out its duties is not a
question for Schenck. “We think
so. It’s $1.2 million more than they
had before.”
The budget package, which can
still be modified throughout the
next year, currently contains
numerous line items which were
returned to full levels of spending