Washington budget shortfall puts agriculture at risk
Washington Ag Today October 19, 2009 One-point-two billion dollars in deficit and growing. That is how State Senator Mark Schoesler describes Washington state’s budget situation just four months into a new biennium. The Ritzville Republican was a speaker at Friday’s Spokane Ag Bureau breakfast. In an interview Schoesler summed up what such a deficit could mean for agriculture in the upcoming legislative session. Schoesler: “I think vital research and assistance to growers definitely have problems in a tight budget. The other thing is last year we saw a call for extending the B&O tax to agriculture. Extending the sales tax to farm auctions. Things that producers use certainly are at risk anytime there is a budget deficit.” The Senator would like to see a special session to start creating savings now rather than wait until January. Representative Joel Kretz also spoke at the breakfast and agrees that addressing the deficit now rather than later is a better approach. Something the 7th District Republican is watching are proposals to reorganize state natural resource agencies to save money. That would include the State Department of Agriculture, Department of Natural Resources and Ecology. Kretz: “I can see some benefits by not duplicating efforts or services, but I am also concerned that we could come out of that with a super agency that is unresponsive to the public and inefficient. So we have to be very careful.” As for any tax increases, Kretz says he has heard raising the sales tax is on the table. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
