CLEARFIELD – Clearfield County is feeling the effects of the state budget stalemate in Harrisburg, and the commissioners have voiced their concerns to State Rep. Matt Gabler.
“It was to be passed June 30. We don’t have a state budget at this point, and here we are in September,” said Commissioner Joan Robinson-McMillen, chair, during Tuesday’s regular board meeting.
With the absence of state funding, the county has had to front funding twice from its general fund budget to cover program expenses for Children & Youth Services, according to Robinson-McMillen.
She said that the county’s CYS department is being effected the most, which is likely the same scenario in other counties across the state.
She said that the county has continued to pay its foster care parents and CYS employees’ expenses at 100 percent. However, she said it only pays the county’s share to the larger facilities that it contracts with for the placement of children; other agencies have been told they will have to wait for payment until there’s a state budget.
“They are alright with that for now,” said Robinson-McMillen, “but who knows if this goes on much longer.” She said if the state budget stalemate drags out, the county would have to decide if it continues to transfer funding out of its general fund, takes out a line of credit or send the children home.
Gabler noted that he heard similar concerns regarding the state budget stalemate’s effect on CYS programs in a meeting in Elk County last week. As one of the county’s state leaders, Gabler said he wanted to provide an update on efforts to pass a state budget in Harrisburg.
According to him, the state House and Senate passed a budget June 30. However, he said the budget was completely vetoed by Gov. Tom Wolf. “We were very surprised by that,” he said. “There are differences in ideas on how to put a budget together, but there was also a lot of agreement.”
Gabler said of the 401 line items, the governor and the legislature agreed on 274 of them. “The governor has line item veto authority,” he said. “We figured areas of agreement would be allowed to take effect while the 130 others could be line item vetoed with continued negotiations throughout the summer.
“But that didn’t happen. The governor vetoed it entirely, which leaves no spending authority in the state, and the state isn’t dispersing funds to contractors, municipal and county governments, etc. We’re trying to move it along to get the authority to disperse those funds.”
The bottom line with Wolf’s budget, Gabler said, is that it proposes a tax plan, which failed to get any support from the legislature when put to vote June 1. “How can you spend the governor’s requested $33.8 billion when all you have to spend is $30.2 billion?
“That – $30.2 billion – was the budget that passed the legislature June 30, and it was a balanced budget. It would have provided funding and substantial increases in funding to a number of priorities, including to schools and all funding in the governor’s request for human services line items.
“It would have allowed the ability to keep the state moving. Now, we’re trying to figure out what to do.”
Two weeks ago, Gabler said House Democrats declined to provide the necessary two-thirds majority to override the governor’s veto and provide immediate funding for a range of human service and education-related programs, including rape crisis centers, domestic violence services, PHEAA college student grants and public school transportation. Gabler said both he and Sankey voted to fund these essential statewide services.
According to him, he said conversations were continuing between the legislature’s leadership and Wolf. He said the governor has also asked for a larger increase in education funding than what was provided in the budget. He said that the legislature’s leadership has presented an option, which would free up other funding via pension and state liquor store reform, to allow for the governor’s proposed education funding target.
Gabler said the legislature’s leadership hasn’t received an answer from Wolf. He said the next scheduled voting session is Sept. 21, but he’s prepared to go back earlier if called upon to do so.
Although he hopes for a full budget vote, Gabler said he’s at least hoping for a vote on a “stopgap” budget to cover a few months while comprehensive state budget negotiations continue. “I’m not going to stop taking solutions to the table and will continue to speak for the county and its programs that are so important,” he said.
Gabler believed that the agreed upon budget items should be put on the side, so that they could hammer out the line items where there’s the most disagreement. He said if that had been done, they would have been a lot further along already.
Commissioner Mark B. McCracken said he was aware that there were concerns arising over the state budget stalemate at the North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission. McCracken also asked if Gabler had heard any concerns from area school districts.
Gabler said he hadn’t heard an “urgent cry” from the school districts, which have a mix of revenue coming from state and local sources. He said if the state budget stalemate drags on into late fall and there isn’t a budget by Christmas, there would be a big problem for school districts.
Commissioner John A. Sobel said he’s also heard frustration over the state budget stalemate from Tim Potts, who is the driving force behind the proposed rail system between Curwensville and DuBois. Gabler noted anything involving federal pass-through funding is also being held up by the state budget stalemate.
Gabler said it would make sense to pass at least a stopgap budget to relieve some of the pressure. If one is passed, he said it’s likely to be based upon either last year’s budget or the one passed by the legislature in June.
Fortunately, he said Clearfield County has positioned itself well to survive the state budget stalemate, as it did during the last one in 2009, which lasted until October that year. But he said even the strongest counties begin to feel the effects when the state breaks down. “Anytime there’s any dysfunction like this, the loser is always the taxpayer,” he said.
Robinson-McMillen said the commissioners would soon be preparing the county’s budget for the upcoming year. She told Gabler that the county’s “lean time” is January through April, and there are “folks with needs here.”
Gabler said both he and Sankey were willing to continue to take feedback from the county to Harrisburg. He said they are open to holding future meetings with the commissioners.
