“This affects us all ... and it costs us more money.”

That was the collective thoughts of the Carbon County Commissioners Thursday as they aired their frustrations over the current Pennsylvania Budget impasse, again leaving counties to scramble to find funds to pay for services that are covered by the state.

Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Sofranko started the discussion, saying that this impasse in the state trickles down to the counties and will affect a number of departments, including Children and Youth, 911 Communications, Area Agency on Aging, Carbon-Monroe-Pike joinder boards for mental health and drug and alcohol services, to name a few.

“It all trickles down,” Sofranko said. “Office of Aging receives state funding ... so now if we don’t start getting money to keep the Office of Aging and all that running, the county has to find money within our budget.”

The same goes for Children and Youth and 911, he added.

“If the state doesn’t have a budget, they don’t have the money to give us to give them so now all of a sudden, how do we pay those employees?” Sofranko asked. “Is it fair to say that we can’t close. There’s children that are going to need them. There’s families that are in distress ... Everything starts to affect everybody by the end of July because of all that starts to run out with the budget impasse.

“You’re going to hear (the state say), ‘Well, some departments are affected and some aren’t.’ It’s easy to say that but all of that affects the county because we still have to provide those human services. ... We have to find that money so it comes out of savings that the county has. Well, that’s not fair to the county.”

This means that the fund balance the county has gets used in the meantime to cover salaries and department operations, however, the money runs out quickly, and could force the county to take out a loan, Ahner said.

Sofranko said that this problem is then compounded because while the county uses its fund balance to float the departments that are required by the state, the money doesn’t make interest.

“While that fund balance is being eaten up, which we worked very hard to get over the last year, we don’t get interest,” he said. “So the next savings that we normally could pass along to the taxpayers or even give back to the department heads who have been working hard (to live within the budget) is gone because the state doesn’t say ‘Sorry.’ I have never, yet, at least in my 18 months, have seen an interest check from the money we’ve lost (because of the state).

“I simply ask those that are in authority out there, from the governor’s office all the way down who work for the taxpayers, especially in Carbon County, pass the budget. Come to terms. Come to the table because it’s not fair to the elderly. It’s not fair to the people who are working. It’s not fair to the college students who are getting out and there isn’t a budget being passed because of their inactivity or inability to work together.”

Nothstein, who has voiced his disapproval of state actions in previous years, said that senators and representatives should have to stay in Harrisburg beginning July 1 and continue until a budget is passed.

He said they should not be paid for this time, nor should they get back pay after the budget is passed for this time, because they are the ones holding up the state.

“They have a responsibility to have it completed by June 30 and signed by the governor,” Nothstein said. “It affects us all. It affects the taxpayers and it costs us more money and they sit at home doing nothing or partying just like we want to on the Fourth of July.”

A continued problem

Pennsylvania’s fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30, with the state beginning budget talks in February and their target adoption date with the budget signed by the governor by June 30.

However, this has not happened for several years, with the state legislators continuing negotiations after the deadline.

Political divides within the legislature this year again forced the state to miss the deadline for the new fiscal year, meaning that as of July 1, payments by the state ceased until a new budget is passed.

According to Spotlight PA, the impact of these missed payments begins to be felt by counties and schools in August.

The biggest issues that are holding up discussions include ‘skill’ games regulation, increasing Medicaid costs and more.

Both the state Senate and House have gone on break and are not scheduled to return until this fall, however lawmakers can add voting days if compromises are reached.

“We will not have members here without productive activity occurring,” state Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) told reporters last week. “I don’t think it behooves any of us to have members here just for the sake of being here.”

Shapiro proposed a $51.5 billion plan for the 2025-2026 fiscal year in February. His proposal would increase total authorized spending by 9% for state operations, or by about $3.8 billion, including a $230 million request for the current year’s spending.

The state has approximately $11 billion in its reserves that could be tapped into, however Republicans have opposed using it, news outlets report.

Since 2003, this is the 14th time, and the third year in a row under Gov. Josh Shapiro, that Pennsylvania has missed its target for a passed budget by the deadline.

In 2023, the budget was passed nearly six months after the deadline. In 2024, it was passed just under two weeks after the deadline.