Schuylkill County commissioners on Wednesday loaned two human services agencies a total of $620,000 to pay bills until the state impasse ends.

The Children and Youth Services agency borrowed the lion's share, $520,000. The Office of Senior Services borrowed $100,000.The impasse is now in its 100th day, and the impact on human services agencies, which rely largely on federal and state money, is beginning to be felt. The county's human services agencies budgets total about $43 million. Of that, said county Finance Director Paul Buber, about $39 million comes from state and federal coffers."The impasse is starting to take its toll," he said.The loans, he said, are only for this month. If the state fails to adopt a budget by November, another loan may be necessary.The money came from the general fund's unassigned fund balance, Buber said.There's still about $12 million left in the account, he said.Commissioner Gary J. Hess pointed out the fund balance is the county's resource to make ends meet during shortfalls."I hope this mess gets cleared up soon," he said.The loans will be repaid when the state adopts a budget.The total annual budget for Children and Youth is $18,564,692. The budget is $6,356,638 for the Office of Senior Services, Buber said.Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. said because the state funnels federal and state money to the agencies, they're "taking a significant hit.""Our hope is that there can be a fix to at least take care of the human services," he said."We're hearing from all human service providers, both the companies that contract with us as well as our own people," he said."Services are not stopping. Our goal is to not allow any services to stop," Halcovage said.He rebuked Gov. Tom Wolf for not allowing a stopgap plan to fund human services."Every other governor, no matter which party, has always done that," he said. "It's extremely important that those services continue.""The governor needs to walk a mile in their shoes," Halcovage said.The tug of war over a state spending plan is forcing counties to bridge the gap to keep their most vulnerable people safe.Neighboring Carbon County on Sept. 17 loaned its Area Agency on Aging $250,000.The impasse is also throwing a monkey wrench into budget preparations, Buber said."Not knowing when funding is going to be coming to the agencies makes it very difficult from a planning standpoint," he said.