Washington's budget must spread the pain

Nobody in Washington state is going to get through the upcoming legislative session unscathed. Not property owners, not special-interest groups, not social-service agencies, and not state employees.

There is no way for the governor and the Legislature to create a balanced budget in the face of a $2.6 billion deficit without spreading the pain throughout the state's entire populace.

Gov. Chris Gregoire talked to the editorial board last week after she announced her all-cuts budget. It's a budget she said she despises and doesn't reflect her values.

"It's a balanced budget, which is required by law. It's not a budget I believe is good for the state," Gregoire said. "It doesn't reflect my values and I don't think it represents the values of folks across the state."

She quickly followed up her condemnation of her initial budget with a pledge to come back in January with a tweaked version that includes increased revenue from taxes. Gregoire said the next iteration of the budget will not only be a supplemental budget but will be put together with the long view in mind.

That is good to hear. This shattered economy does give Olympia a chance to shake up its structure and funding.

Gregoire should stick to her initial budget and work with the Legislature to come as close as possible to filling the $2.6 billion hole before even murmuring the "T" word. Washington, like every other state, has been ravaged by the recession. Washingtonians can't shoulder more taxes. Not when they are scrambling to make ends meet.

Gregoire said she doesn't have much stomach for pumping up the business and occupation tax, or bumping the property tax up to the constitutional limit. Good. She is also not inclined to levy regressive taxes on groceries and has concerns of a gas tax and the 18th Amendment, which dedicates gas taxes for roads.

There is talk about taxing business services. That might be one of the few logical places to create a tax. All this doesn't get us to a balanced budget.

So what's left? State employees and government operations. If these two areas are not reduced and streamlined, then the governor and Legislature will surely have to raise taxes, which will compound the recession.

State employees can't justify job security, above-market benefits and step increases in pay when safety-net programs are being cut and low-income students are losing financial aid.

Shouldn't education and protecting the vulnerable be the priority of our elected officials and not making sure state employees keep what they have?

The governor's budget was greeted with a flurry of unhappy news releases from Republicans and Democrats.

Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, echoed my notion that state employees not only shouldn't get more but should have their pay and benefits reduced.

"I had hoped these troubled economic times would finally force us to reform state government ... by reducing Olympia-level managers and by reducing salaries and benefits for those who remain.

"Our families are balancing their budgets with less money by paying for what they need and eliminating what they don't need. Gregoire keeps what we don't need at the expense of those in need."

Gregoire is correct to try and shore up tax loopholes, but any discussion about increasing and adding taxes must come from a serious effort to adapt government spending to our leaner reality.

Now is not the time to add new taxes in a panic. Rarely do these temporary fixes remain temporary. Now is a time to change how government operates and is funded.

Ryan Blethen's column appears Sunday on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is: rblethen@seattletimes.com