A first-term legislator will take on a long-time former Alle-Kiski Valley school board member to represent the 54th District Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Republican legislator Eli Evankovich will face-off against Democrat Patrick Leyland next month to represent the 54th district, which includes Export and portions of Murrysville. Evankovich, a former financial analyst who unseated Democrat John Pallone in 2010, was unopposed in the Republican primary. Leyland ran a successful write-in campaign to appear as the Democratic nominee in the Nov. 6 election.

Evankovich has been endorsed by the Pennsylvania Pro-life Federation, the Pennsylvania Family Institute and the National Rifle Association. Leyland is endorsed by the Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations.

When the next state legislative session begins in January, its representatives will have to deal with a burgeoning pension debt, millions of miles of deteriorating roads, another contentious state budget and the after-effects of a state Supreme Court ruling on new drilling regulations.

Both candidates agree that reform is needed to ensure that the current members of the state pension system for educators and state employees receive their guaranteed benefits.

Evankovich said he plans to introduce a bill next session would reform both pension programs by converting them to a hybrid cash balance plan.

Currently, state employees – including educators, state legislators and other state employees – are enrolled in a defined-benefit plan that is underfunded by about $43 billion. Evankovich proposes moving new employees – and any current employee who would opt-in to the program – to a new program that includes both a 401k-style program and a defined-benefit program. Part of the program would be similar to a savings annuity that would be paid out to the retiree monthly with a guaranteed 4-percent growth. Any money the investment earns more that 4 percent would be put into the unfunded balance of the pension program.

“The pension obligations are crushing the budget, among other items,” Evankovich said. “Right now, we have a boat that is taking on water, and we need to plug the hole. We need to stop letting water into our pension plans. I don't think Harrisburg has the maturity to handle large, defined-benefit plans. You need to take it out of their hands.”

Leyland, who served on a pension committee for the state school boards association in 2007, said he supports a similar plan, which was recommended by the school boards association in the past. To come up with a solution, he would like to see pensioners, school board members, current employees and state legislators sit down to discuss the problem.

“This is not a problem caused by employees that receive the benefit,” Leyland said. “This is a problem created by the politicians in Harrisburg. The state and school districts weren't paying their share into the pension fund. It catches up with you.”

Both men said they would opt into the hybrid plan if adopted. Legislators only receive a pension if they complete 10 years of service.

As required contributions to the Public School Employees Retirement System have steadily increased in recent years, districts such as Franklin Regional have considered cutting programs.

Evankovich said he would push for full-day kindergarten funding to be added into the basic education funding that districts receive each year so that the program is guaranteed to continue. He attributed much of the school funding problems to the loss of federal stimulus money in 2011 and said that districts need to adjust spending increases, most of which are related to contracts.

Leyland said he doesn't support local districts cutting programs, calling those cuts “detrimental.”

The districts' hands are tied though because communities such as New Kensington and Murrysville don't have the commercial and industrial tax bases that Latrobe and North Huntington do.

“It's core programs that are on the chopping block in the districts,” Leyland said. “In the end, it's one of two choices — raise property taxes locally or cut programs.”

Social services funding also has been cut in recent years. Leyland said although he wants to eliminate waste in the system, those who need food and other help should be receiving it.

Evankovich said the Department of Public Welfare needs better oversight to make sure it's working with those who can't help themselves, rather than those who refuse to help themselves.

“There's not enough people pulling the cart and too many people sitting in the cart,” Evankovich said. “One of the things we need to do is get more people working that are on social assistance. It's our duty as a society to help people get on the path back into a productive society, not a path to sustain yourself for generations.”

One thing that does need sustainability, however, is the road and transportation infrastructure across the state. Evankovich, who recently worked to help facilitate a $1.7 million offer to Murrysville to take over Logan Ferry Road from the state, said that state roads need repairs.

When most roads were built in the 1960s, the state budget dedicated 30 percent of its money to road construction and repair. Now, that amount is down to 10 percent.

Evankovich said he advocates moving transportation-related money – funds generated from gasoline tax and the motor license fund totaling about $1 billion per year – into a dedicated fund for road and bridge repair.

Leyland also wants to see more money dedicated to transportation, but suggested reconfiguring license and registration fees that haven't increased in many years. He said increasing those fees to reflect inflation could help raise money to fix bridges and roads, as well as an increased impact fee on Marcellus shale drillers.

Daveen Rae Kurutz is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-856-7400, ext. 8627, or dkurutz@tribweb.com.

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