The time has come for Pennsylvania lawmakers to start thinking about the next budget again.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the commonwealth\u2019s general assembly packed into the house chambers in Harrisburg to hear Governor Josh Shapiro\u2019s 2026-2027 budget address<\/a>.<\/p>\n The governor is proposing a $53.2 billion dollar budget, up from $51.4 billion last year, but for taxpayers, Shapiro said they won\u2019t be bearing the burden.<\/p>\n \u201cMy budget doesn\u2019t raise taxes, in fact, it continues to cut taxes, and it doesn\u2019t require a broad-based tax increase today, tomorrow, or at any point in the next 5 years,\u201d said Shapiro.<\/p>\n Shapiro looks to address rising housing & rent costs in budget deal <\/a><\/p>\n Shapiro proposed an additional $565 million for public education, a $15 state minimum wage, $100 million for a \u201cfederal response fund\u201d and more<\/a>.<\/p>\n For some Erie taxpayers, they say they want to see their money spent on housing opportunities and homeless initiatives.<\/p>\n \u201cWith my taxpayer dollars, I would like to see affordable housing, instead of these expensive buildings going up for rich people,\u201d said Anthony Pittman, Erie resident.<\/p>\n \u201cThey need to get more grants and funding for housing to get people off the streets and get them into apartments and housing,\u201d said Jim Buckingham, another Erie resident.<\/p>\n The Erie residents said housing prices have only been going up, and Shapiro\u2019s proposition is to build more houses to drive costs down.<\/p>\n To do that, he said it starts at the local level and is proposing the creation of a catalog of zoning laws across the state\u2019s 2,560 municipalities to help local governments understand what works best.<\/p>\n Additionally, the governor is proposing a modernization of the state\u2019s municipalities planning code and the creation of a $1 billion-dollar critical infrastructure fund to boost housing and infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n But finalizing last year\u2019s budget wasn\u2019t smooth sailing. It took lawmakers four months to pass an overdue budget, and citizens are hoping that doesn\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n Erie County exec. announces no tax increase in 2026 budget; proposal goes to council for review <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAnother government shutdown would hurt us, it would really, really, really hurt us,\u201d said Pittman.<\/p>\n \u201cAnother government shutdown just wouldn\u2019t work, they need to get their act together,\u201d said Buckingham. \u201cStop fighting between themselves and just come to a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n But this time around, Shapiro said progress will take togetherness, and plans to meet with party leaders sooner than later.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all recognize it took too long last year, and that had real impact on Pennsylvanians, but we learn some valuable lessons through that process. We learned that we all need to be at the table, and we all need to be at the table sooner,\u201d said Shapiro.<\/p>\n The full budget report in brief can be found here<\/a>, and a video of Shapiro\u2019s address can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n