A Town Hall meeting titled “Tight Times, Tough Choices” will be taped tonight at WHYY that is designed to give Pennsylvania residents a better understanding of the State’s fiscal health.  Citizens will gather at WHYY to learn what options the Commonwealth is considering to reduce next year’s budget by $2.6 billion.  On February 4, Governor Ed Rendell announced that future revenues are predicted to be down significantly and in his budget he proposed cutbacks throughout state government sparing only a few areas.

The 2009-10 General Fund budget reduces spending by 8.8 percent in all areas other than Education, Public Welfare, Corrections, and Probation and Parole.

To help people better understand the tough choices the Governor and the State Legislature are facing the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, the Penn Project for Civic Engagement have organized a televised Town Hall meeting on the Pennsylvania Budget that will air on WHYY on Sunday, May 3 at 6:00 p.m. It will also be aired on other public television stations in Pennsylvania in the coming week. It will also be viewable online on this website.

The event itself happens tonight in Philadelphia. Invited participants will first get an overview of how the state budget works from Steven Wray, executive director of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia.

Citizens will then break in to 12 small groups to discuss their concerns and draft budget-related questions for state officials.

At 8:15 p.m. A host will ask many of those question to a panel that includes: U.S. Senator Robert Casey, State Senator Jake Corman, State Representative Dwight Evans, and State Secretary of Policy and Planning Donna Cooper.

The event is being sponsored by David Haas, The Philadelphia Foundation and The Lenfest Foundation.