Feb 28, 2015 3 min read

With a pension crisis looming, a gaping budget hole, a crumbling infrastructure and scores of other needs that must be met and paid for, every cent of the tax dollars we send to Harrisburg is being used urgently to meet current expenses.

Right?

Not so fast. One of the nation’s largest, most expensive and, as it turns out, most tone-deaf and arrogant state legislatures, is maintaining a formidable surplus account. It was revealed last week that lawmakers are keeping $161 million in a reserve fund that they say is there to keep them rolling in the dough in case a governor should cut off funding for the Legislature in the midst of a budget fight.

Yes, saving your pennies can be a virtue. But more than 16 billion of them?

What makes the Fort Knox-size surplus the Legislature is maintaining all the more troubling is, according to the Associated Press, there are no limits on the amount that can be maintained in this reserve fund. It was started in the 1980s, and there is no state law or internal policy on how elephantine the surplus can become.

The way this pile of cash is being used also cannot be examined by the auditor general in the way other state accounts can. Moreover, an additional $7 million was added to the surplus between June 2013 and last June, when the fiscal year ended.

How has the surplus been created? Through unspent taxpayer money that was earmarked for other expenses. Rather than putting additional money into those programs – or giving taxpayers a break – it has been shoveled into the surplus account.

The AP pointed out that “such a large and unfettered surplus is nearly unheard of in other states” and, “For years, auditors hired to report on the Legislature’s financial practices have recommended that lawmakers consider adopting a policy that establishes and monitors the appropriate amount of surplus – recommendations the Legislature has ignored.”

Some lawmakers argued the $161 million does not represent the actual size of the surplus today, following $72 million in cuts now-departed Gov. Tom Corbett made to the Legislature’s accounts. Nonetheless, putting $161 million aside for contingencies – by some estimates, $161 million would keep the Legislature afloat if a budget fight lasted for a full six months – is excessive. You would think if there was enough there for two months – or two weeks – it would focus the minds of lawmakers a little bit.

We have long argued that Pennsylvania’s Legislature is too unwieldy, that its membership could be reduced and district lines redrawn. But it is also a Legislature that is pampered and handed all manner of emoluments.

Many take advantage of per diems to handle expenses, rather than turning in receipts, which is how such transactions are typically dealt with in the private sector.

Their salaries are among the best in the nation for state lawmakers, as are other benefits they receive, and many are able to live well years after they leave the Legislature thanks to pensions that carry them effortlessly through their golden years.

Nice work if you can get it, eh?

Sure, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the Legislature maintaining a surplus, but there’s no need for it to be as large as it is. It also should be subject to the same kind of scrutiny afforded other parts of the budget. It is our money, after all – despite what lawmakers might think.