Published: June 30, 2009 11:53 pm      

Budget impasse worries workers

Even before the deadline passed at midnight, state workers at the dozens of state offices throughout the region remembered the budget standoff of 1991, when a spending plan was not approved in Harrisburg until Aug. 4

At the dozens of state offices in Cambria County, no one is expecting that long a delay.

But with budget impasses for the past seven years – when the Legislature has not approved Gov. Ed Rendell’s spending and taxing wishes by midnight on June 30 – most state workers in this area say they are resigned to the inevitable.

Others are angry and frustrated that their pay will be affected if a budget is not passed.

The Associated Press reported that they will receive only partial pay on July 17 and 24, after which paychecks will be withheld entirely until the impasse is solved.

They will then be paid retroactively.

The impact of the standoff is being felt throughout the state, especially among county officials who fear an unfair tax load and state workers who fear a loss of pay.

Cambria County, like many, is home to dozens of state offices.

Some, such as the state attorney general’s office in Ebensburg, are small, satellite branches.

Others, such as the Ebensburg Center state-owned facility and the mine safety offices, are large employers in their own right.

At large and small government offices in the region, state workers are worried.

“What does this mean for a single parent, or someone who lives paycheck to paycheck?” asked a worker in the attorney general’s office.

The workers declined to be identified by name, as did others interviewed Tuesday, citing state protocol that workers not comment on policy.

At the state Bureau of Forestry in Ebensburg, the mood was one of worry but optimism as workers recalled past budget impasses that did not last too long.

Workers there, as in other state offices, declined to comment specifically on this year’s budget issues.

Highway workers on Route 22 seemed more worried about state funding for current projects, saying that some suppliers will not deliver if payment is not certain.

State police at the Ebensburg barracks said simply, “We just do our jobs.”

Others pointed to apparent injustices, such as guards at state prisons having to work without pay, at least temporarily, while state inmates still get compensation of 19 to 42 cents an hour for performing tasks such as serving meals.

An Indiana County legislator on Tuesday called on the state to stop paying prisoners if they stop paying the guards at Pennsylvania’s 26 correctional facilities.

State Rep. Dave Reed, a Republican, will sponsor a bill to address that.

“Government must care as much for the men and women who enforce the laws as it does for those who break them,” Reed said.

Equally outspoken were county officials, who are eyeing the impasse with alarm.

“We’ve expressed our opposition to cuts in state funding for programs and functions we are mandated to do. We’re holding our breath on cuts in these programs,” said P.J. Stevens, president of the Cambria County commissioners.

“If they’re going to cut funds to counties, I hope they would look at their own house, too,” Stevens said.

But the commissioners do support the governor’s proposed state income tax increase, and sales tax hike, if they are used to cut property taxes.

“Anything that would bring tax relief, and shift the burden from property taxes to the ability to pay, would be welcome,” he said.

Rendell supports a mixture of cuts and higher taxes – including a three-year, 16 percent jump in the personal income tax – while Senate Republicans propose solving the problem by cutting spending and not increasing taxes.

Rendell said Tuesday that a state budget deal is unlikely to be reached this week or next.

But, he said, workers will have access to low-cost loans and lines of credit to help them through their expected payless workdays.

Ten Pennsylvania institutions will offer assistance to the 69,000 state workers whose paychecks will be delayed.

Participating banks are Citizen’s Bank of Pennsylvania, PA State Employees Credit Union, Americhoice Federal Credit Union, Members 1st Federal Credit Union, Oil Country Federal Credit Union, Fulton Bank, Lafayette Ambassador Bank, Swineford National Bank, FNB Bank and Orrstown Bank.