Carbon County has frozen overtime in its Children & Youth Department as commissioners brace for a prolonged state budget impasse in Harrisburg, Commissioner Chairman Mike Sofranko said.

“We’ve already stopped overtime, any type of overtime request, in departments that are specifically funded because of a cash flow issue from the state,” Sofranko said during Thursday’s commissioners meeting. “Those departments have been told that all overtime has ceased.”

In a follow-up interview Friday, Sofranko said the freeze is currently affecting the Children & Youth Department, where the director is shifting to flexible scheduling to maintain coverage.

Sofranko attributed the cash flow problem to the structure of the state’s funding formula.

“Due to the way the state’s funding formula is set up, we’re waiting on advanced money, and that becomes a cash flow issue,” Sofranko said. “Not having a budget just complicates that, just compounds it, so we’re getting ready for that ahead of time this year.”

Commissioners outlined similar concerns in a June 10 letter sent to Gov. Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania Senate and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, urging lawmakers to pass the state budget on time.

“As Carbon County Commissioners, we are urging you with the utmost seriousness to prioritize passing the Commonwealth budget on time this year even if that requires remaining in Harrisburg around the clock until the work is done,” the commissioners wrote.

The letter states that late budgets force counties into difficult financial decisions.

“Late budgets require counties to get ‘creative’ in ways no responsible government should be forced into,” the letter states, citing the premature cashing-in of certificates of deposit, cuts to county savings reserves or security bonds that incur interest, and the raising of local taxes to cover shortfalls.

“These actions are not signs of poor planning,” the commissioners wrote. “They are the unavoidable result of the state failing to meet its own deadlines. Counties cannot print money, and we cannot simply pause the services our residents depend on.”

The letter was signed by Sofranko, Vice-Chairman Wayne Nothstein and Commissioner Rocky Ahner.

“I urge you to remain in session as long as necessary, 24 hours a day if required, to ensure the Commonwealth fulfills its responsibility to its counties and its citizens,” the letter states.

Among other areas of great concern locally is the Area Agency on Aging, which has been searching for a new home for its Panther Valley Senior Center since losing its previous space in Nesquehoning, Sofranko said.

He said funding uncertainty has complicated those efforts.

“If you don’t know you’re going to get rent next month, I don’t think I’d be signing an agreement this month,” Sofranko said. “If you remember, last year we kept the senior centers open, but we couldn’t pay — we paid for the meals that were there, but no one received their rent payment until after the county got their money from the state.”

Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said even a timely budget passage would not immediately resolve the uncertainty, since the county would still need to learn how much funding it will actually receive.

“Even when they pass the budget, we won’t know for sure what we’re getting until — we won’t know what our allocations will be, or how it’s going to be split up,” Nothstein said. “Everything’s up in the air, even if they pass it on time, which I highly doubt. It would be shocking to me if they pass it on time.”

Sofranko said the goal is to avoid a repeat of the prior fiscal year, when the county absorbed the effects of the impasse without making early adjustments.

“We’re just asking them to get it done on time, get it across the table,” Sofranko said. “We don’t want to wait like we did last year.”