From the TIMES-TRIBUNE:
Part of the orderly transition from one state administration to another is the completion of projects that the outgoing administration has agreed to fund. Without a mechanism in place to ensure that continuity, many billions of dollars worth of economic development, which relies partly on state contributions, never would get off the ground.
State law includes a check against an outgoing governor blithely bestowing parting gifts upon favored constituencies. It requires the state treasurer or auditor general to sign off on new borrowing.
It’s to the good that Gov. Ed Rendell and state Treasurer Rob McCord have reached a compromise on borrowing to fund a host of projects, from bridge construction to local economic development initiatives, that already are in the pipeline. Mr. Rendell had proposed $1 billion, which would have produced annual debt payments of $80 million for 20 years, but agreed to Mr. McCord’s proposal of $650 million, which will reduce the annual debt service to about $44 million…
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