In which we link out to the tech news from Philly and elsewhere (when it matters) that slips through the cracks and make it way fun. See others here.
The state budget deadline came and, like every other year of Gov. Ed Rendell’s tenure, it went by without a completed plan.
This year, though, the fight has something to do with the state collecting $3.5 billion less in taxes than it anticipated. So everyone’s feeling the pinch. Even, it seemed, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, the state-funded, startup investment company that we reported could see a $10 million, 60 percent budget cut or more — and then others did too.
But the Inquirer’s Joe DiStefano thoughroghly researched the report, suggesting that the report BFTP pointed to in its defense was less than square — a report from the Pennsylvania Economy League that showed BFTP bringing in $3.50 for every $1 invested in it.
“That’s not real,” DiStefano wrote. “The authors [of the report] estimated, and extrapolated, and multipliered, using what the Economy League’s Rich Stein told me were “quasi-experimental” techniques.
According to his article, the state put $50.7 million into BFTP this year, a total Rendell wants to cut to $35 million the coming fiscal year. The original Senate Republican budget put it nearer to $20 million.
Little question remains whether BFTP has done good, but much debate, DiStefano clearly shows, can be had on if it’s done enough to avoid one of the largest state budget tightenings in recent memory.
After the jump, Michael Nutter is not on Twitter, a biomedical firm brings jobs to Philly and six other tech and innovation links you need in your life right now, including our most read story of the week.
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