On Tuesday, Governor Tom Wolf presented his final budget address to a joint session of the PA House and Senate, and while he touted his accomplishments in turning the state’s finance problems around, he also once again asked lawmakers to work on raising the state’s minimum wage.
Wolf said that he was more confident now in the state’s finances than when he presented his first budget address seven years ago, as the state at that time had a structural budget deficit of $2 to $3 million.
Wolf also made his plea for increasing the minimum wage. Currently the wage is $7.50 an hour, but wolf said that surrounding states are offering a better minimum wage, and that is luring potential employees away.
Some of the highlights of the Governor’s budget include a $60 million increase in spending for Pre-K Counts, $1.25 billion in basic education funding, $150 million in one-time American Rescue Plan funds to the State System of Higher Education and another $75 million in additional general funds for the state system. Overall, the governor’s budget comes to $43.7 billion, which is an increase of 16% over last year’s budget.
