By Erik Potter, Post-Tribune correspondent
INDIANAPOLIS -- Just like there's more than one way to skin a cat, there appears to be more than one way to add up a budget.
A panel of House Republicans and Democrats talked past each other Friday morning and afternoon in a hearing on the Democrats' budget proposal.
Filed late Thursday, the 386-page spending plan was universally panned by Republican lawmakers and Gov. Mitch Daniels.
In a statement released Friday from Daniels' state budget director, Chris Ruhl criticized the proposal as failing to meet any of the five requirements Daniels had laid out for an acceptable budget, including leaving $1 billion in reserves at the end of two years and not increasing taxes.
Democrats disagreed.
At the start of Friday's hearing, Rep. Terry Goodin, D-Austin, took a copy of Ruhl's statement printed on a piece of computer paper, crumpled it up in his hands and "filed it appropriately" in the trash bin behind him.
"From the very start (Ruhl's statement) is wrong. It is dead wrong. We are not going to listen to this anymore; we are going to move ahead with our budget," Goodin said.
Debate was calmer but no less conciliatory during the remaining four hours of the panel. Most of the interest groups that testified spoke in favor of the Democrats' budget, which spends about $70 million more than Daniels' budget, according to Democratic estimates.
Republicans accused Democrats of introducing a one-year budget that front-loads federal stimulus dollars, leaving funding "cliffs" next year when there isn't enough local revenue to replace the stimulus dollars.
Assuming the same level of spending next year as the Democrats are proposing this year, Ruhl and Republicans say only about $175 million of the $1.35 billion in reserves will be left at the end of the two years, setting the state up for either large spending cuts or large tax increases.
Rep. William Crawford, D-Indianapolis, disputes that claim, saying the spending plan leaves the appropriate amount in reserves and that next year the General Assembly will have a better idea of the pace of the economic recovery and can craft a responsible second-year budget.
Budget hearings will resume Monday when Crawford said he hopes to be able to pass the proposal out of committee.
The bill then must go the full House for a vote, where Democrats hold a slight majority. It is likely to pass there, after which it will head to the Republican-dominated Senate, which is committed to a budget modeled after the one Daniels proposed earlier this month.