Westmoreland County starts making cuts, says layoffs could come if state lawmakers don’t pass budget

GREENSBURG, Pa. — Local county leaders are urging lawmakers in Harrisburg to pass a state budget for the fiscal year.

“We’re starting to feel the pain,” said Westmoreland County Commissioner Ted Kopas.

The budget was due to start the fiscal year on July 1.

“Frankly, we’re running out of money,” Kopas said.

The commissioners have started to make some cuts.

“Such as a hiring freeze, freezing unnecessary travel, limits on overtime, but that really is just going to be a drop in the bucket to the bigger picture,” Kopas told Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek.

With no state dollars coming in since June, the county had to loan itself about $31 million just to keep mandated human services operations running.

If a state budget isn’t passed by the end of the month, Kopas said there could be layoffs.

“The measures we announced earlier this week were, frankly, round one,” he said. “We are now planning for some employee furloughs in the near future if a budget is not passed, as well as closing county facilities.”

Kopas said there wouldn’t be any layoffs for things like the 911 center or nurses at Westmoreland Manor. But he said things like county parks could close, and it could take longer for the county to process paperwork.

“Such as a variety of license, gun permits, things of that nature, because we’re simply going to have fewer people here to do those services,” he said.

State Senator Kim Ward is the Senate President and represents Westmoreland County.

“We want to get this done. We don’t want to see the people we represent suffer,” Ward said.

She said there’s frustration in Harrisburg from both parties, the house and senate, and the governor. The house passed a budget in July, but the senate didn’t pass it.

Ward called it a “wish list” for the Democrats. The senate passed it’s own budget bill, but it has not been taken up in the house.

“In the senate, the Republican controlled senate does not want to raise taxes on the people we represent,” Ward told Havranek.

Ward said there could be a temporary budget passed based on the senate’s bill but says it’s up to the house.

“I’m hoping to get some action on this maybe soon in the next week, but talks do happen every day,” Ward said.

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