Editor’s Note: This is the first semi-annual publication, a new feature series on GantDaily.com. Our news staff interviewed representatives from government entities and select organizations within our coverage area. In doing so, our news staff asked each the same series of questions. The questions were:
1. In the last six months, what have been your greatest accomplishments?
2. In the last six months, what have been some of your greatest challenges?
3. What goals have you met in the first six months of the year? Not met?
4. What events, legislation, etc. have impacted you the most?
5. What are you looking forward to/not looking forward to over the next six months?
As part of the GantDaily.com semi-annual story series, the Clearfield County Commissioners recently highlighted some of the board’s greatest accomplishments and challenges of the past six months while also offering a glimpse into the future.
Accomplishments
In the past six months, Commissioner Chairman John A. Sobel said this board’s greatest accomplishment has been keeping the county “financially sound.” In 2011, he said the board reduced property taxes by 2.5 mills and didn’t include a property tax increase in the current-year’s budget.
“The first six months are when revenues are their leanest. Tax monies don’t really start coming in until the spring. We were able to meet our obligations without taking a Tax Anticipation Note (TAN),” he said.
In addition, Sobel noted the county had an early primary election on April 24, which it managed well. He said one of the county’s most important functions is maintaining and managing the electoral process within the county.
Challenges
On the other hand, Commissioner Mark B. McCracken said the board’s greatest challenge has been the uncertainty surrounding its federal and state funding. He said it has impacted counties across the board, and state-related funding issues started earlier this year when Gov. Tom Corbett released his budget.
“We had to start looking at the human services funding cuts that were coming down. These were originally proposed at 20 percent and then negotiated down to 10 percent. We worked very hard with our human service agencies to figure out how we were going to absorb it,” he said.
However, Commissioner Joan Robinson-McMillen said it was even more than human service. For years she said federal and state government officials have said, “oh well, we have a deficit; that’s OK. We’ll make it up next year.”
“Next year never comes,” said Robinson-McMillen. “And, it’s time for the programs, which were originally created, to live within the grants or the funding. These have morphed into other beings, and yes these programs morph with extended funding.
“But as long as we allow ourselves to morph and continue to grow without being responsible to the financial end of it, it continues to grow and morph and soon you don’t even recognize what the original program looked like. We agonize over these decisions. It’s not something we take lightly.”
She said the commissioners were elected to keep the county running in a “financially fiscal manner.” She said it poses challenges for them every day, and it’s a matter of “doing the right thing versus doing the fiscally responsible thing.”
McCracken said the board was forced to analyze the county’s cash flow, to meet with department heads and elected officials and to work in a team effort to figure out how to get through that first three or four months. In March, he said it was “pretty tight.”
According to Robinson-McMillen, the county will have three months with three payrolls this year. She said this past March had three and when it’s a payroll including healthcare, it amounts to $500,000 in payroll. “It’s just something we struggle with,” she said.
For all three commissioners, another great challenge was the announcement earlier this year about the planned shutdown of the Shawville Power Plant in April of 2015. McCracken said it presented challenges about how this would impact existing employees and local industries, etc.
Goals
Although it’s not necessarily 100 percent the board’s “job,” Robinson-McMillen said the commissioners are striving to attract more businesses. Sobel said he didn’t want to imply the board was satisfied with the county’s current economic climate. However, over the past four years, he believed it has improved.
“Things have gotten better. There is business development in the county. New facilities and stores are being constructed in the county. For example, there’s the new hotel going up by the interstate; finally, at the beginning of this year, we had a new grocery store; and I know there are some new auto parts stores going up,” he said.
He said the “signs” are there that things are getting better. In other words, he said new businesses don’t come in if the economy is “completely in the dumps.” Also, he noted the retail growth in DuBois, the expansion at Lock Haven University’s Clearfield campus and the institution of programs at Penn State DuBois and the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center.
“They are hearing what it is that the county needs in order to keep our young people here – welding, truck driving and mechanics,” said Robinson-McMillen. She said Jeff Tech has expanded its two-year degree programs as well.
McCracken said another county goal has been to create awareness of the job opportunities and growth of the Marcellus shale natural gas-related industries. He believed the county has been adapting to it and offering training for the jobs that are here and coming.
Legislation/Events
Robinson-McMillen said everyone was on “pins and needles” regarding the state’s budget. She said it posed uncertainty about if counties would be forced to have a human services block grant, but it turned out to be a 20-county pilot program.
“And, Clearfield County will not be requesting to be a part of the 20 counties. We’re not ready,” she said. Again, Sobel pointed out that human service cuts were initially proposed at 20 percent before being negotiated down to 10 percent.
McCracken said the county continues to deal with issues surrounding the state’s new Voter ID law. He said whether people agree or disagree, the commissioners are pushing the message to voters that “it’s the law” and going to be implemented for the fall election.
In the spring election, he noted it was voluntary, but it’ll be mandated in November. He said any voters who need assistance in obtaining a Voter ID should contact the commissioners.
Robinson-McMillen said the county was affected by the redistricting process, and both Republicans and Democrats came together from throughout the county and were heard in Harrisburg. Regardless of whom, she said the residents of Clearfield County will have a representative and one that “looks and thinks” like them.
“That was an unexpected challenge,” said Sobel. “It wasn’t an ordinary challenge. It’s not one we face every year and are accustomed to. It wasn’t one where we’re not knocked off our feet when it occurs. That was one we had to deal with very quickly, and it could have been a complete game-changer had the (Legislative Reapportionment) Commission decided differently.”
Like Robinson-McMillen, McCracken said the county pulled together with a bipartisan response to the redistricting challenge. In the past decade, he said the county has been served by two congressmen, three state senators and two state house representatives.
He said under the revised plan, Clearfield County will have two state senators, which are both closer than the third one who had been coming in. In addition, he said the two state house representatives represent the county’s interest.
Looking Forward
Sobel said he’s looking forward to the fall election, as it’ll be a very “historic event.” For him it’s a very significant presidential election, in addition to it deciding who state representatives will be. He said it will provide further insight into the implementation of the state’s new Voter ID law.
“It’s going to be a lot of work, but we’re really going to be living in a different world I think the day after the election. I think the fact that we’re so deeply involved makes it a significant event for all of us as commissioners,” he said.
Robinson-McMillen said the country is at a “turning point” in the upcoming fall election. She said it will tell whether the country goes one way or the other way. More specifically, it’ll determine if it becomes more “pro-jobs, pro-business and pro-economic or become more socialistic.”
“And, that will be up to the voters,” she said.
Over the next six months, McCracken said the commissioners will be carefully watching the economy and the gas prices tying into it. Locally and regionally, he said the county will be impacted by the price of natural gas, which right now is stagnating.
“This board’s first year in office was when gas hit $4 per gallon. That was during the first year of our last term. But if you look at where it is now, you can talk about what a ride it’s been. Now, it’s down to what $3.35 during the first year of this term,” said Sobel.
In the next six months, Robinson-McMillen said the commissioners aren’t looking forward to the hardships faced when hashing out the county’s budget. For the county, according to her, budget time rolls around about September or October, and the commissioners have to crunch numbers.
“Reality will set in,” she said. “We have 215 employees and 81,000 constituents. We have to balance that budget.”
McCracken said the budget presents the county with “tough decisions” and it tries to balance its needs with the needs of the citizens as well. Robinson-McMillen added it’s important to the county to discuss financial matters publicly, so that its citizens realize the difficult decisions being made.
“Sometimes, we make these decisions, and they learn about them afterward. They may say, ‘oh – that is awful.’ Then, tell us where it is you want us to cut,” said Robinson-McMillen. “No matter where we cut, someone isn’t going to be happy.”
