Gambling opponents were rejoicing over the collapse of a slots deal, but members of the county's state House delegation tended to see the budget plan passed early Saturday in the Senate as more a lump of coal than a gift.

Even Democrat Mike Sturla of the 96th District wasn't sure Saturday whether he would vote for the package, which includes an income tax hike of nearly 10 percent and a smorgasbord of other tax and fee increases.

Around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, the Senate broke a nearly year-long logjam and approved the final pieces of a budget, including about 3 percent more for basic education funding and, by summer, an extra $175 million for new school block grants.

Now the House must decide whether to concur. That could come as early as Monday, when the lower chamber reconvenes.

If not, Pennsylvania, the only state without a final budget for 2003-04, could head into the new year with school funding unresolved, social services and libraries unfunded and doctors on the hook for big medical malpractice insurance payments.

The Senate's extraordinary Friday-night-into-Saturday-morning session, at a time when both chambers traditionally are on holiday recess, was necessary because the Republican-dominated Legislature and Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell have been stalemated for most of the year over Rendell's call for new funding for schools.

Finally, with schools making plans to shut down, the governor and leaders of all four caucuses in the Legislature agreed on the outlines of a deal.

"We saved the taxpayers of Pennsylvania about a billion and a half dollars by holding out,'' said Sen. Noah Wenger, R-36th District.

A last-minute drive to legalize slot machines and use the proceeds to underwrite property tax relief fell apart by Saturday morning in the Senate.

That was cause for celebration among gambling opponents, led in the Senate by Lancaster County's 13th District senator, Gib E. Armstrong. Rendell said he expects slots to be back next month.

"We stand ready to fight the next assault from the gambling cartel and its allies in Harrisburg,'' said Pennsylvania Family Institute President Michael Geer of Elizabethtown.

But Sturla, who represents the city and parts of its suburbs, said the demise of slots "really puts the budget in jeopardy.'' Without property tax reform that slots would pay for, he said, there's not much in the Senate budget to crow about.

"Best we could do'' The General Assembly adopted Rendell's "bare-bones'' budget in March, over the governor's own protests. Rendell reacted by vetoing the education funding line item.

All-night negotiations Friday into Saturday produced Senate agreement on a property tax hike and other assessments, including an increase in cigarette taxes to help doctors with medical malpractice insurance payments (see related story, A-8).

Lancaster County's three senators Wenger, Armstrong and Majority Leader Chip Brightbill all supported the compromise.

"It was about the best we could do at this point,'' Wenger said.

He noted that Rendell wanted to raise the income tax from 2.8 to 3.75 percent, and that an earlier House-passed bill included a hike to 3.25. The Senate's version raises the tax to 3.07 percent, "a modest increase.'' The Senate bill also gives schools about 3 percent more in basic subsidy, 4.5 percent more for special education, $34 million for new tutoring programs, $4.6 million to reimburse districts for interest income they lost and $175 million in block grants.

While Rendell wanted more, the block grants unavailable till summer because the school year is half over can be used as districts want, on such initiatives as preschool or all-day kindergarten.

One item Rendell supported that didn't make it to the Senate floor was a slots plan. While supporters tried up until the last minute to offer an amendment, Wenger said, they couldn't agree on such details as how many slots parlors would be allowed and where.

Licenses for Indian tribes was one of the sticking points.

"It's called greed,'' said Rep. Tom Creighton, R-37th District.

Rendell told the Associated Press that he was "as confident as I can be'' that a slots bill would pass by the end of January. Geer, the Pennsylvania Family Institute head, called on the governor and Legislature to abandon the "fool's gold'' of gambling.

"This issue must be taken out of the smoke-filled backrooms in Harrisburg and put to a legitimate vote of all of the people of Pennsylvania,'' Geer said.

Uncertain fate Now the budget goes to the House, and while local lawmakers said they expect passage this week, it won't be without rancor.

Sturla, an ally of the governor, was disappointed in the compromise.

"We're going to raise taxes, cut services and give them no property tax relief,'' he said.

He wasn't sure Saturday how he would vote on the deal.

Republicans Creighton, Roy Baldwin of the 97th District and Katie True of the 41st all said they won't support the tax hike.

Baldwin was also concerned about the low level of funding restored for libraries just $10 million of the $37 million slashed in Rendell's "bare-bones'' budget.

True said if the House doesn't concur with the Senate, some kind of stopgap funding for schools has to be passed: "Schools have to have their money.'' House leadership presumably thinks it has the votes to pass the budget, but True added, "To be perfectly honest, I don't know what'll happen.'' Neither does Sturla. And he doesn't mind working a little longer to get a better deal.

"I'm willing to come back the day after Christmas,'' he said. blog comments powered by Disqus