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Consequences of the State Budget
Posted 7-22-2002
Well, the news is in from
Harrisburg, and the Commonwealth has passed what appears to be a very
austere budget. The question remains, what will that mean for county
governments, including ours in Westmoreland County. Generally, when things
get tight in Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., it means things will be even
tighter for us at the local level. With a budget the size of Westmoreland
County's ($271 million) and with only $59 million generated through property
taxes, it is apparent we are very dependent on other levels of government
for funding. The primary areas that we receive state subsidies are for human
services and economic development site development projects.
The Mental Health and Mental
Retardation Department, the Children's Bureau, Westmoreland Manor, and the
Area Agency on Aging are the largest recipients of state and/or federal
funding. This year's county budget shows expenditures in those four areas of
approximately $136.3 million. Right now, the budgeted county match for all
of those areas combined is only $3.5 million.
The Area Agency on Aging
should be okay, since much of the money comes from the Pennsylvania Lottery
and now more will come from the tobacco settlement. In fact, it appears they
will have more money available for programs for seniors. They intend to make
the money available to service providers to increase the number of seniors
that will receive services and allow the services to be provided in a more
timely manner. Children and Youth also seems to be funded adequately, as it
will receive an increase in its needs-based county funding.
There will be no
cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for mental health or mental retardation
services, but no cut either. So, if expenses increase, we may have to dig
deeper locally. It also means the forty providers of services with whom we
contract, who also experience increased operating costs, will not have any
funding increase. Many human service providers already have recruitment and
retention problems, so this budget is likely to make the problems more
pronounced. The problem for many providers is if they can't recruit and
retain employees, and they must have 24-hour staffing, they will inevitably
pay higher overtime costs.
Westmoreland County has been
experiencing increased demands for more and varied services from many
present consumers, and with this budget, we may not be able to meet the
demands. Additionally, if more individuals enter the MH/MR system, we will
have a difficult time providing services.
Long-term care (under medical
assistance) was cut by 0.2%, and the money is to be made up with tobacco
settlement funds; but if costs go up, providers will have problems. We have
been fortunate with Westmoreland Manor that our census has been above 90%,
and the Inter-Governmental Transfer (IGT) has been financially beneficial,
so we have not, in recent years, put local dollars into the nursing home.
But, there are many county nursing homes in Pennsylvania that aren't as
efficient. The continuing problem with health care in general is that the
landscape is always changing, and we can never predict clearly the
consequences of those changes.
Economic development is
another area we are concerned about with regard to the Commonwealth's
budget. Much of the development of our industrial parks has been funded by
money from Harrisburg. As we attempt to develop new sites and develop
additional phases of our existing industrial parks, we will need help from
Harrisburg. It appears that much of the Commonwealth's budget under economic
development and community development took hits. The only areas it appears
to have increased were customized job training (+5.71%) and a small line
item (from $4.0 million to $4.5 million) for their industrial development
authority. Items, such as infrastructure development (-12.39%), community
revitalization (-17.32%), and housing and redevelopment (-16.67%) were cut.
The bottom line is when
things get tighter in Harrisburg, and they only look to get even tighter
next year, it makes it harder for county governments. We are dependent on
property taxes for our primary source of revenue, and we are cognizant of
the fact that property owners are already getting increases in their school
taxes. So, we have our work cut out for us. It will take pragmatic
management of our budget, as we have been doing. It doesn't mean we shut
down operations or not undertake important investments for our county's
future, it means we must work harder to ensure that the money we do spend is
spent wisely. |
