By Josh Siegel
Times-Shamrock Writer
Rep. Sandra Major (at podium) spoke on state funding issues at a legislative luncheon hosted Friday by Cabot Oil & Gas and Williams Companies in Dimock. Also speaking at the event were Senators Lisa Baker and Gene Yaw (seated), and Rep. Tina Pickett. STAFF PHOTO/JOSH SIEGEL
State Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Williamsport, told a Susquehanna County Chamber of Commerce luncheon Friday that “I’m so sick of hearing that we’re the only state without a severance tax. It’s like nails on a chalkboard.”
Yaw, who represents the district which includes the corporate headquarters of Cabot Oil & Gas, where the luncheon was held, was among four state legislators who provided an update to local business leaders
on issues they are facing in Harrisburg. The others were Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Twp., and Representatives Sandra Major, R-Bridgewater Twp., and Tina Pickett, R-Towanda.
Yaw said the flip side of the gas tax discussion is that “We’re the only state that has an impact fee.”
State Sen. Gene Yaw spoke at a legislative luncheon held Friday at the Dimock offices of Cabot Oil & Gas, where he, along with other area legislators discussed a proposed severance tax, state pensions and liquor privatization. STAFF PHOTO/JOSH SIEGEL
The impact fee got its name after former Gov. Tom Corbett claimed during his tenure that there would be no more taxes, but for all intents, he said, the impact fee could be called a severance tax.
He added that, if adopted as proposed by the governor, Pennsylvania would have among the highest severance taxes in the nation.
“If you have the highest, companies will think about leaving,” Yaw said, adding that industry professionals reminded him that, “Every piece of equipment has wheels on it.”
According to Cabot spokesman George Stark, who emceed the program introduced by Williams’ Tammy Bonnice, Governor Wolf’s proposed budget requires $1 billion from the gas industry in order to fund the programs he proposed, like the increase in state funding for education.
“We have the view that if you can afford it, you should pay,” Yaw added.
Rep. Tina Pickett was among the state legislators who appeared at an event Friday hosted by Cabot Oil & Gas and Williams Companies. Pickett, with other local legislators, addressed a proposed severance tax, pensions and liquor privatization. STAFF PHOTO/JOSH SIEGEL
Under Wolf’s budget all schools would receive more state funding, regardless of need.
“I think there probably is a funding problem,” Yaw said, “But it’s not a money problem, it’s an allocation problem.”
“We’re not all on board on spending amounts,” Major added, regarding where state funds should be allocated.
But Endless Mountains Health Systems board chairman Ray Wilmarth said that everyone was clear about the sizeable amount the gas companies have given to the community, such as getting the new Endless Mountains Health Systems hospital and physicians’ clinic off the ground.
He suggested that with a severance tax, they’re not going to be the good neighbors they have been.
Other topics that the legislators brought up included pension reform and liquor privatization.
According to Baker, pensions are some of the biggest costs that the school districts and government entities need to pay, and “When the economy tanked, it was hard to keep up the pensions.”
Baker noted that she voted for legislation in May that she feels is a step in the right direction, but because the pension problem is tied to the state budget, it is unlikely to represent the final product that gets hammered out.
Yaw and Major also addressed liquor privatization, along with attempts to get beer sold in gas stations and convenience marts, and noted that they get plagued by the many competing interests that are at stake, so little steps are being taken.
Yaw added that ultimately the alcohol reforms would look more like “modernization, rather than privatization.”
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