Governor Tom Wolf announced today he is taking another step to fill the state’s funding gap in the absence of a final revenue package.
“This further action will mean we can make our complete payments to local school districts and providers of human services, treatment programs, child care and other important services that Pennsylvanians rely on. Pennsylvanians, especially our kids and most vulnerable, should not bear the consequences of House Republicans’ inaction,” Wolf said in a release.
Wolf proposed the lease in his budget address in February, saying it would bring in $200 million for the state.
The state would retain ownership of the Complex, but will lease it to a private company for 29 years.
Wolf continued to use these actions to put pressure on the House and Senate to pass a revenue package to balance the state’s budget.
“The failure to finalize and responsibly balance the budget means I must take action to make sure the Commonwealth can honor the commitments approved on June 30 by the General Assembly,” Wolf said.
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8 Responses
The lease-leaseback was always within the Governor’s power to do. He was never asking for legislative approval, but participated in hearings because that is how legislative oversight works. It is a fundamental part of our system of checks and balances.
For some reason this didn’t nest under “Steve”.
And the House went on vacation again??
And the House is on Leave again?
So suddenly Wolf can do all this on his own??? Someone should tell all the school districts who borrowed millions of dollars during his first budget mess when the governor refused to release the money to our schools claiming he couldn’t do anything about the budget impasse. But now it’s election season for him so he can act? What a fraud.
republican members of the legislature you are making it very easy for this guy to get reelected. get it together folks. get it passed with no taxes and you win. don’t blow this.
Way to go, Tom Corbett. You are doing a wonderful job of advancing your agenda. Dems don’t stand a chance after you passed pension reform, liquor privatization, cutting higher ed funding, and now you are privatizing state assets. Hats off to you. I knew your administration would be a success. It just took a few years of you being gone.
This isn’t privatization or anything close to it. The Commonwealth has complete and total control over the facility at all times, it just gets to access equity in it. Think of it as a kind of HELOC.
It works like this: the Commonwealth leases the property to an entity that gives the Commonwealth, say, $200 million, which the Commonwealth pays back in lease payments over the period of the lease, plus a little extra to make it worth the entity’s time and money.