There’s a new money man in town.

State Rep. Bill Adolph, R-165, of Springfield, was elected the new chairman of the House Appropriations Committee Tuesday following the resignation of state Rep. Mario Civera, R-164, of Upper Darby.

Civera was sworn in to Delaware County Council earlier this month and is expected to leave his House seat later this year, though exactly when that will happen is not yet clear.

Civera said after the November election that he wanted to stay in the House for a short time, partly to ensure Adolph would succeed him as chair of the committee.

“With Mario leaving, there would not have been a single member of the Republican caucus leadership for the five- or six-county area (on that committee),” said Adolph, which made the chairmanship high priority.

Adolph, who is also chairman of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency board, said he was honored to be picked for the position and excited to get started. He will have to hit the ground running.

“Budget hearings start Thursday, and so my goal is to try to push the budget process to a conclusion before June 30,” he said. “I think that is a constitutional responsibility that we have been remiss in and I will push to get an agreement, and I think in the past the Legislature has started too late to get that done.”

Adolph said he is hoping to flip the budgeting process on its head. Instead of party leaders hammering out a deal behind closed doors that is later rejected by members, said Adolph, each caucus should have a hand in crafting the budget and moving it through the legislative process, giving caucus heads a good idea of what their members will support before going into those meetings.

“This way the state universities, the public schools, (PHEAA), the various social agencies will all be able to budget their revenues based upon a timely budget,” said Adolph.

The state Legislature has not passed a budget on time during Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell’s seven years in office.

The current year’s budget was passed 101 days past due following a contentious battle to shore-up a $3.2 billion deficit, which Adolph called “inexcusable.”

During the budget battle, Republicans pushed for spending cuts while Democrats — including Rendell — rallied around increased taxes.

Adolph, who had previously sat on the Appropriations Committee for 11 years before leaving to chair the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, said there are similar problems coming down the pike for this year’s budget.

While the deficit likely won’t be anywhere near as bad, said Adolph, the state also won’t have the reserves it did last year to fall back on.

“We have a lot to consider this year, and the sooner we begin to take a look at what we are up against, the sooner we can begin to lay the groundwork for what I hope will be an efficient and responsible state budget,” said Adolph. “It is going to be quite a challenge, but I look forward to the opportunity to help get Pennsylvania back on track.”