A Schuylkill County resident had to file a Right-to-Know request for a copy of the county’s preliminary budget.

Melissa Melewsky, an attorney with the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said that’s not right.

“There’s simply no reasonable justification to support delayed or denied access to the full preliminary budget; it is required by law to be readily available to anyone interested,” she said in an email.

Palo Alto resident Jeff Dunkel had requested the preliminary budget after it was adopted last month.

It was not immediately available and he was forced to file a Right-to-Know Request to obtain a copy. A three-page summary was later given to Dunkel to review.

In the county’s response to him dated Nov. 24, where he asked for a copy of a supplemental budget resolution and the copy of the proposed budget, an additional 30 days is requested because “a timely response to the request for access cannot be accomplished due to bona fide and specific staffing limitations,” “a legal review is necessary to determine whether the record is a record subject to access under the RTKL,” and “the extent or nature of the request precludes a response within the required time period,” the letter reads.

The county said it expects to respond to the request on or before Dec. 27.

However, the commissioners are set to vote on the final budget by Dec. 15.

Dunkel asked about accessibility at the commissioners’ meeting Wednesday.

“It’s being determined,” solicitor Alvin Marshall said.

“For the public at home, it’s being determined if the budget is legally allowed to be requested,” Dunkel said.

Commissioners’ Chairman Barron “Boots” Hetherington said the budget is available in the courthouse. The public may see it in the commissioners office. Hetherington said the goal is to have it online by the end of the month.

“We are working with the IT people to get it online,” he said.

Dunkel questioned why the county can upload other documents to the county website but not the budget.

At one point, Dunkel and Hetherington got into a verbal shouting match.

The copy of the preliminary budget for the public is split into revenue and expense packets. The first page of the revenue information is titled 2022 Department Summary Revenue and lists the first page as the general fund.

Other pages have very brief descriptions including department fund numbers and amounts. The expense section is similarly listed.

Melewsky had this to say.

“The preliminary budget, in its entirety, must be available for public inspection and copying during the county’s normal business hours during advertised inspection period. The fact that the county made someone file a formal RTKL request for access is inconsistent with both the letter and the intent of the RTKL and the County Code,” she wrote in an email.

She further said the fact the county has opted for a 30-day extension “raises serious questions of bad faith that could expose the county to sanctions. There’s no question that this record is expressly public, in its entirety. In addition to the possibility of RTKL sanctions, there may also be potential liability under the county code, which requires the county to facilitate public access to the budget, not create administrative barriers to access it.”

Access to the budget should be “straightforward and easy,” Melewsky said.

Some counties have links to the budget on their website. For example, Carbon County has the proposed 2022 budget online. It is 152 pages.