County commissioners make an excellent point here about the upcoming state budget, noting that the Commonwealth is attempting to pass the buck and make counties and local municipalities responsible for raising taxes.

But I have to wonder what Dennis Stuckey is talking about when he says this:

My responsibility to the taxpayers of Lancaster County is to push back when we have the opportunity.”

By doing what - demanding that the state hike taxes so the locals don’t have to?

You see the political game going on here - and it pits Republican against Republican. Senate Bill 850, which is what worries the commissioners so, is the handiwork of Senate Republicans who want to respond to the fiscal crisis by “scaling back government spending.”

…except, the law requires the programs continue to be funded; so the money will have to come from the locals. Republicans like Stuckey and Scott Martin will be stuck increasing taxes so Senate Republicans can say - look how responsible we are.

Yet as Stuckey and Martin point out, it’s actually the height of irresponsibility.

Nothing new for the state, but we’re getting down to brass tacks now. As a state, as a nation, as a county are either going to have to raise taxes, maybe significantly - or cut programs not merely by failing to fund them, but by changing the laws that require them to be funded. Which means the political fight of the century.