First and foremost, the Governor presented today yet another fiscally unsound, irresponsible and unjust proposal for his mid-year budget cuts. He has simply shifted the burden of the state’s addiction to spending onto the backs of our local governments and, inevitably, the taxpayers of our state.

School budgets have been voted on and local governments already have laid out their spending plans; for the Governor to now propose cuts for localities, coupled with half a billion in school aid cuts, is simply foolish. What the Governor said to the taxpayers of our state today is, “It’s your problem now.” Property taxes will be forced to go up.

I am glad that the Governor has heeded my call to enact a state spending cap; the majority of his proposal simply shifts the burden. I would like to see my colleagues in the State Legislature reject the irresponsible aspects of this plan.