Westmoreland to lay off hundreds of county workers

By Rich Cholodofsky

Trib Total Media

About 500 nonessential Westmoreland County government employees will be furloughed April 3, county commissioners said Thursday.

The layoffs come as county officials deal with balancing vital government functions during the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing budgetary concerns complicated by large overtime payments doled out to essential employees who were required to work the past two weeks.

“We are taking precautions so, when this is over, we don’t have to gouge the taxpayers,” said commissioners Chairman Sean Kertes.

The three commissioners declared a county state of emergency March 13 and scaled back county operations starting March 18 as part of a social distancing plan to reduce the number of workers at the courthouse and in other locations through March 29.

Since then, employees — including those at around-the-clock operations such as the jail, nursing home and 911 center, and a skeleton staff at the courthouse — were paid overtime wages for reporting to work. All other county employees who either worked from home or were off the job continued to receive regular wages.

Kertes said courthouse restrictions and reduced services will remain indefinitely.

“We don’t know how long this will continue,” he said.

The practice of paying employees overtime wages for regular work hours will end March 30, and all county workers will be paid as normal through the end of next week. Employees deemed essential and required to report to work starting April 4 will receive regular wages.

“This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make,” said Commissioner Doug Chew. “We’re trying to do the best we can considering the financial shape Westmoreland County is in.”

The county entered 2020 with essentially no financial safety net. The county’s surplus account, which a decade ago was more than $40 million, was used annually to balance deficit budgets. 

Even with a 2.4% tax hike this year, the budget had to be balanced with $5.5 million in surplus funds. Financial projections estimated the county would end the year with only $267,000 in the surplus account.

That was until the additional overtime payments were authorized to give essential workers “pandemic pay” for coming to work. County officials said they haven’t been able to calculate the cost of the overtime being paid to about half of Westmoreland’s workforce of more than 1,800.

Commissioners said elected officials and department heads worked Thursday to compile of a list of staff who would remain on the job. Nonessential staffers or those who are unable to work from home will be furloughed until normal county operations can resume.

Those furloughed will retain health benefits but will have to continue paying their portion of insurance costs, commissioners said. Employees will be allowed to defer those payments until they return to work.

“This is a difficult time for everyone,” said Commissioner Gina Cerilli. “I am optimistic that the federal stimulus package will help ease the burden for our employees that have to collect unemployment. I’m hoping that everyone can return back to work sooner rather than later.”

Commissioners said that the recent actions by state lawmakers and the federal government will enable many of laid off county workers to receive unemployment benefits that approach their current salaries.