Carney hosts Tele-Town Hall to discuss education and budget

An estimated 5,000 concerned citizens listened in to Governor Carney's Tele-Town Hall Thursday night.

In Carney's words during his introduction, "the problems we face are pretty evident."  The First State faces a budget deficit near $400 million, and the Governor stressed throughout the hour-long event that to achieve the goal of slashing the deficit while maintaining economic viability, everyone will have to make a sacrifice.

"They're willing, as long as we make a commitment to running state government more efficiently and effectively, that we have a balanced approach with shared sacrifice.  I think the people have expressed a willingness to chip in."

Problems raised by Carney revolved around the inability to increase funding for education to keep up with the growing youth population.

Questions from callers included consolidating school districts, how special education funding is distributed and how cuts would effect music and the arts.

Carney balked at consolidation of districts, reasoning that looking closely at things such as employees leveling up in pay scale, there may not be the cost savings there that one might think.  Carney did suggest downsizing the administrative level in districts as a way to shed some unnecessary fat.

The Governor also declared he feels it should be a universal goal that all children should be able to by third grade.

Other topics discussed aimed at chipping away at the deficit included a dollar increase in cigarette tax, increasing the gas tax, an increase of two-tenths of a percent on income tax across the board, and a property reassessment.  Though Carney said property reassessment would not happen in time for this budget, he did not rule out the possibility of that over the life of his term.

A Middletown man made a point of potentially using the state's rainy day funds to help with the dilemma.  Carney said he was against the idea, saying it is meant for an economic downtown in the middle of the year and required to be used during an emergency situation, adding it would not be wise to rely on money that is "here this year and gone next year."