State Treasurer Rob McCord says he needs more money to make more money for state government.  
 
At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Wednesday, McCord said Republican Governor Tom Corbett's proposal to flat-line the treasury's $32-million operations budget is actually a cut because of rising personnel costs.
 
McCord, a Democrat, says his department has produced hundreds of millions of dollars for the state through savvy investments, stepped-up collections and reduced payment errors. McCord says he needs a nearly 25-percent increase to build on that record.
 
But Senator Mike Brubaker, a Lancaster County Republican, told McCord he needs to find more creative solutions. As he put it, in this economy, "a flat-line budget is the new up."