State budget won’t immediately fix county finances, board says

The budget impasse is expected to impact the county’s bottom line in 2026.

By RICH CHOLODOFSKY
TribLive

Westmoreland officials warned that passage of a state budget on Wednesday will not immediately resolve the county’s financial hardships, which led to cutbacks and employee furloughs.

“It’s a relief and we’ll be getting back to work but we expect this will have an impact for the next 24 months,” said Commissioner Sean Kertes.

The deal, signed into law Wednesday afternoon by Gov. Josh Shapiro, is expected to restore the flow of state funding to local governments.

The stalemate among lawmakers in Harrisburg that left the state without a 2025-2026 budget for more than four months resulted in financial difficulties for many municipalities, counties and school districts. Westmoreland County commissioners instituted a series of cost-saving measures that included a hiring freeze, limits on purchasing and overtime, partial facility closings at the county parks and the furlough of 125 employees in October.

Kertes said it is unclear when those measures will be reversed.

Furloughed workers will likely remain off the job at least through the end of the year.

“We don’t know when the state money will come, but it will be incremental,” Kertes said. “We want to bring people back as much as we can. We furloughed them, we didn’t lay off people.”

He said additional cost-saving measures, such as courthouse closures and additional furloughs, are now off the table.

Meanwhile, officials are still seeking repayment of nearly $500,000 lost from interest payments on investments that were terminated to provide needed cash to keep the government operating.

Westmoreland County’s 2025 $452 million budget relied on more than $100 million in state funding to pay for mandated social service programs such as child welfare, aging and behavioral health services.

Human Services Director Rob Hamilton said the state budget deal will ensure programs continue uninterrupted. Plans to prioritize payment to vendors who provide those services were in place but had not yet been fully implemented.

Impact of the budget impasse could have lasting ramifications on social services, he said.

“There may be providers who are not willing to sign on with the county because they aren’t sure if they’ll be paid. We also don’t know if employees will want to work for us. For the short term, this will get us back on track. For the long run, we just don’t know,” Hamilton said.

As the state budget impasse continued, the county shifted funds earmarked for general operations to ensure social services continued and in late October borrowed $11 million from the state treasury.

Commissioners said that money, received last week, will soon be returned. Interest owed on the loan is expected to be waived as part of the state budget deal.

“This is probably more of a sigh of relief rather than cheer their accomplishment,” said Commissioner Ted Kopas of the budget deal. “The passage of the budget does not mean money will flow soon. This is going to cost our county taxpayers.”

The budget impasse is expected to impact the county’s bottom line in 2026. Commissioners are scheduled to introduce a preliminary budget next week, with passage of a final spending plan set for mid-December. The budget is not expected to include a tax increase, Kertes said.

“Our budget isn’t going to get any easier. We’re cutting staplers and pens. We’re even reducing the amount of cleaning supplies. The impact of this is significant,” Kertes said.