125 workers get furlough notices

The workforce reductions became necessary due to the state budget impasse.

By RENATTA SIGNORINI
TribLive

Furlough notices started going out Friday to 125 Westmoreland County employees as leaders seek to reduce spending amid the ongoing state budget impasse.

The furloughs will go into effect Oct. 13. Commissioner Ted Kopas said they are expected to save the county $100,000 weekly.

“This is a sad day for the county,” he said. “I feel terrible for the families that are being affected by the Legislature’s inaction.”

Because of the state budget impasse, county officials and department heads have spent the past two weeks seeking ways to cut costs as state funding has dried up.

Westmoreland’s $452 million budget — which operates on a calendar-year schedule — relies on nearly $104 million in state funding. The county has received only limited deposits since the state’s fiscal year ended June 30.

Tina Barnes of Unity, a union member who works in jury selection at the courthouse, received a furlough letter. She said a co-worker also is to be laid off, which will leave just one staff member remaining in her department.

“It came as a little bit of a surprise,” she said. “We knew about furloughs, but we didn’t think at first that they would be affecting anybody in our department.

“The office functions best with more than one person.”

Barnes has worked for the county for 11 years.

“I have a feeling I’ll be back, and I have a feeling a lot of people will be getting their jobs back,” she said. “The question is when.

“We just have to wait and see what happens at this point.”

Barnes expressed sympathy for other county workers who are being furloughed and who may have limited alternate means of support.

“I feel bad for the people who are already on a very extremely limited income and budget,” she said.

Initial cost-cutting measures enacted earlier this month included a halt to paid overtime, a hiring freeze, bans on nonessential travel and purchasing restrictions. Officials announced county parks would partially close Oct. 6 and events were canceled. Essential services will continue, but some departments have scaled back operations.

Those measures combined have helped improve finances by about $700,000.

Commissioners Sean Kertes and Doug Chew did not respond to voicemails or text messages from the Trib on Friday. They were not in the office Friday afternoon when a Trib reporter stopped by.

Notices were being delivered Friday and will continue Monday. There are 62 nonunion employees, 15 of whom are temporary workers, and 63 union staffers being furloughed.

Forty-six people work in the courthouse and 76 work at off-site locations.

It was unclear when the furloughs might end.

Kopas said he doesn’t believe employees would be immediately recalled if a budget was passed.

“It’s not just about saving money at this point,” he said. “It’s also about making up lost revenue.”

There could be more furloughs if the impasse continues, but Kopas said officials are examining the possibility of a loan.

“That would be the next step,” he said. “This would be more interest charged to county taxpayers because the state Legislature can’t do its job. It’s shameful. It is time for everyone to put their politics aside, their ego aside and get the budget done.”

Officials said monthly interest payments totaling nearly $400,000 so far have been forfeited because of the lack of state funds flowing into county coffers.

While 125 employees are furloughed, those who remain will have to do more, Kopas said.

The county employs more than 1,700 workers, including 857 who are based at the courthouse in Greensburg and additional staff at other facilities including Westmoreland Manor, the jail, juvenile detention center and workers at the county parks. About 1,200 staffers are union workers, according to the county’s human resources department.

Westmoreland County government is the third largest employer in the county, according to Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry statistics for the first quarter of 2025. Payroll obligations total about $4 million every two weeks.