Aug 13, 2009 3 min read

While an $11 billion stopgap state budget has resulted in some state workers being paid, the providers of county-level social service programs could go without pay because those programs are funded by state money. With the budget still not passed, programs in Fayette and Greene counties like Children and Youth Services and Domestic Violence Services have been working without funding since July 1. “We are deeply concerned that the state budget still has not been passed,” said Commissioner Chairwoman Pam Snyder. “We are not receiving any reimbursement from the state, and this is putting a burden on the county.”

Jacquie Albert, director of Domestic Violence Services in Fayette County, said that she has enough money to pay her nine-person staff through one more payroll without state funding.

“Either the staff will have to agree to volunteer their time and work without money, or I’ll have to lay them off,” she said.

If that happens, Albert said she would probably move into the shelter to keep it running because it can’t be shut down.

Snyder said that about 50 percent of the programs in Greene County are funded by the state, so there are about 60 human service providers who are going without pay. The numbers for Fayette weren’t immediately available.

“Providers need to be paid, but we do not have the resources,” Snyder said. “We are trying to keep these programs operating, but each day that passes without a budget puts a heavier burden on the county. You can’t expect people to provide services without being paid. The county runs these mandated programs effectively and efficiently and serves the needs of our residents; the state has an obligation to pay us.”

Officials from both Fayette and Greene counties have said that even if the budget is signed in short order, there still will be a wait to get the money in hand.

“From what we’re hearing, if the state passes a budget, it will still take six to eight weeks to get our money,” Albert said. “This is going to put everyone back into crash mode.”

One example of what will suffer, Albert said, is that people who need to go to the courthouse to get protection-from-abuse orders will no longer have accompaniment from the shelter to do so.

“If I can’t pay my staff, people will have to go through that process on their own,” Albert said.

“We keep our fiscal house in order, and now because of what’s happening in Harrisburg, our fiscal house could be wrecked,” Snyder said. “The General Assembly needs to put politics aside, come together and do what’s right for the people of Pennsylvania.”