Carbon County is again finding the need to loan its Children and Youth Services department millions to help keep it afloat as it waits for reimbursement from the state.

On Thursday, the county commissioners approved a fourth loan of $500,000 to the department, bringing the loan total from the county capital funds budget to approximately $2 million.

When asked if this action is a result of the state not reimbursing the counties in a timely manner, as was the case last year, when the county was owed over $4 million in reimbursements, Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said it is a dual problem between filing reimbursements, as well as the county losing personnel in the department’s finance department.

“It’s been a struggle,” he said.

To help with this, Nothstein pointed out an action the board took on March 21 to hire a fiscal consultant for Children and Youth.

According to that agreement, Service Access and Management Inc. of Reading will provide fiscal consulting through May 31 at a cost of $30,000 total. It was noted that the terms of the agreement may be extended to a more permanent basis.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner said that while he is happy the people are getting good paying jobs, it really makes it difficult for the county because it can’t compete with the private sector.

He also cited another issue with all of this is the amount of paperwork that is required and the knowledge the person in that position needs to have on how the state reports need to be filed to get reimbursement.

Last year, the county operated as its own bank, loaning $4 million from the capital funds budget to its general fund to help cover $3.4 million that the county was waiting to come in from the state for reimbursements to Children and Youth.