Democrats advance budget plan with no sales-tax hike or school cuts
With bipartisanship out of political reach, Senate Democrats today unveiled a plan to rebalance the state budget without relying on higher taxes or carving any more dollars from public schools and colleges.
Their proposal, put forth without buy-in of any Republicans, erases a projected deficit mostly with a blend of cuts in spending in most state agencies, closing a couple of small tax breaks and putting off a payment to school districts until the next budget cycle.
As proposed, the Senate Democrats scheme would fill a $500 million shortfall in the budget that runs through mid-2013 and establish a reserve of $369 million.