Students at the University of Pittsburgh are selecting their courses for next semester, but administrators still don't have state dollars allocated for the current term. Similar scenes are unfolding at the Carnegie Museums, the Children's Institute of Pittsburgh, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln universities and two dozen other organizations across Pennsylvania.

Four months after their fiscal status should have been resolved with enactment of a state budget, these institutions are waiting for their funds to be released As anyone who has ever heard the phrase "The check's in the mail" can tell you, that's not the same thing as having the money in hand.

In Pitt's case, according to budget documents, it is due to receive $168 million; Penn State is slated for nearly $334 million; the Carnegie, $226,000; and the Children's Institute, $431,000.

The problem is due to a peculiarity in the state budgeting process. Even though funding to the institutions is included in the $27.8 million spending plan for fiscal year 2009-10, they are what's called "nonpreferred appropriations." The authority to spend that money must come in separate legislation for each institution, and it must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate.

That's not going to happen until members, who have agreed to allow the addition of table games to the state's slots casinos, work out the details on that legislation.

Balancing the budget was dependent on the additional state revenue that would come from licensing table games in existing casinos, but that remains a complicated proposition. Competing proposals in the Legislature would set the licensing fee for each casino as low as $10 million or as high as $20 million. The tax rate on the money hauled in from poker, blackjack, roulette and other table games would be as low as 12 percent or as high as 35 percent. In addition, details must be worked out on how that new state revenue would be used and how much, if any, would go to the municipalities where the casinos sit.

When lawmakers return to the Capitol next week, that must be their first order of business. Worthy recipients of state dollars have been waiting long enough for what they are due.

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