Published: August 27, 2009 11:51 pm      

Cambria eyes cuts as funds dwindle

EBENSBURG — Cambria County is edging closer to layoffs or shortened work weeks for some human services employees with the ongoing deadlock over a state budget.

The stalemate has halted the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars in state money to counties across Pennsylvania.

Advance notices of possible layoffs have gone out to unions representing human services workers, officials said.

The advance notification is required in the labor contracts. But there are no details yet on how many jobs could be affected or how soon layoffs would be made.

At the same time, the commissioners and department heads are reviewing whether to shorten work weeks and curtail nonessential services.

The county has cut off Meals on Wheels and some home services for new applicants. Waiting lists – which had been eliminated in recent years – are developing again, President Commissioner P.J. Stevens said.

Meanwhile, some providers of day-care services for children and group homes for children and the mentally ill and mentally challenged are beginning to curtail services, Stevens said.

“Without a doubt this budget impasse is hurting real people,” he said.

Although there may be some talks behind the scenes of reaching a budget agreement in Harrisburg, state Rep. Gary Haluska, D-Patton, is not optimistic that a final fiscal package will be enacted anytime soon.

“Once everything is in place – even after we get an agreement on all of the cuts and fill in the funding voids – it will be a couple of weeks before we have a budget,” Haluska said.

And – as the county commissioners are fearing – any final budget is certain to include cuts in allocations, Haluska said.

He is cautioning that few areas will not be impacted.

“There’s probably going to be cuts in a lot of programs,” Haluska said. “It will probably include human services, the environment, everything down the line.”

State Rep. Frank Burns, D-East Taylor Township, declined to speculate on when the state will have a budget. But, he said, “I have faith in our leaders that they will protect our most vulnerable citizens. But some things will have to be cut.”

State Sen. John Wozniak, D-Westmont, said he thinks some progress is being made in talks between legislative leaders and the governor, including efforts to find revenue sources acceptable to the taxpayers.

Wozniak anticipates that a budget will be enacted by the end of September, with budget cuts “across the board” likely.

Stevens said that if state lawmakers and Rendell do cut the annual allocations, “they’re passing that on to the local taxpayers, who will see increases in property taxes.”

In Cambria County, about 270 employees work in the three human services departments – 110 in mental health and mental retardation (MHMR), 80 in children and youth services (CYS), 60 in Area Agency on Aging and 20 in drug-and-alcohol (D/A) rehabilitation and three in the administrative human services office.

The county currently is spending about $2 million in local tax dollars as the local share for those departments. Cambria is receiving about $32 million a year from the state.

That total includes $15 million for MHMR; $8 million, CYS; $1.5 million, D/A; and $700,000 for the human services office.



Tribune-Democrat reporter Kathy Mellott contributed to this story.