Politicians Focus on the Election as Budget Impasse Continues

Where’s the Budget?

The state budget is now almost 4 months overdue. Due on June 30th each year, the state budget allocates funding for the fiscal year that will begin the following day on July 1st. Starting as early as July, state payments to contractors, grant recipients, public schools, and county governments cease in the absence of a budget bill. By the end of the summer, many of these organizations will exhaust their rainy day funds and begin instituting cuts to goods, services, and staff.

Winners and Losers

Despite having a full-time legislature, our elected officials haven’t managed to do their key job of allocating funding, and people who work more days a year for less money are paying the price. Students who receive financial aid grants from the state for college are not receiving their tuition reimbursements. These grants go to students with financial needs to help pay for college expenses. Without the grant money, students either need to pay out of pocket or get extensions for their tuition from universities that are already cash-strapped by statewide reductions in enrollment.

Counties are laying off employees. Northampton County is threatening to furlough all 175 of its health and human services employees, cutting services for vulnerable children and elderly residents. Without funding from the state, many counties cannot pay for social services programs. Westmoreland County is threatening to furlough 125 employees, cutting staff at courthouses and reducing hours at its parks. This also means reductions in services that range from mental health to child welfare, senior services, and veterans’ services. Armstrong County has already closed senior centers, laying off staff and stopping reimbursement to foster care providers.

Non-profits like food banks that receive state grant money are seeing their budgets strained as well. Centre County food banks are reporting reductions of meals that their food banks were not able to provide because of a lack of funding. This comes at a time when the state food programs are seeing a rise of approximately 10% in demand due to inflation and economic conditions. A Pennsylvania Association of Non-Profit Organizations survey of 200 of its members estimated that by late October, 241,000 Pennsylvanians, primarily children, seniors, veterans, and working families, will face service gaps, including reduced access to pantries and SNAP-linked aid.

Meanwhile, legislators will not see any missed paychecks as they delay approving a budget. They can still receive per diems, and their staff can’t be furloughed. State employees are still paid out of the state’s general fund due to a 2010 State Supreme Court ruling that decided that state employees must receive their salaries during a budget impasse.

Pennsylvania Politicians Are More Interested in Politics

Despite the long delay, there does not seem to be any urgency to settle the inter-party squabbles and fund the state. Governor Shapiro seems more concerned with ensuring pharmaceutical companies will continue to profit from vaccine sales by changing our health policies to use recommendations from medical associations instead of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s HHS. He is also more focused on getting out the vote to retain Democratic State Supreme Court Justices than he is on forcing an agreement on budget talks. Republicans in the Senate are declining to meet to negotiate, while House Democrats continue to put forward the same proposals unpalatable to the right with slightly lower price tags as an olive branch of “compromise.” Political watchers are predicting this fight will continue into at least December, maybe into the new year.

How this could cost you money

While not all Pennsylvanians will notice a difference in their day-to-day life, the lack of funding for county government could come back to bite your wallet. Counties across the state are borrowing money to make up for shortfalls due to a lack of expected payments from the state. The principle on these loans will be paid back when the state legislature finally decides to do its job and pass a budget. The interest on these loans, however, will have to be paid back by the counties. This means budget cuts elsewhere or tax increases to pay the expenses. The longer the budget fight continues, the higher the interest costs for the counties will be.

Counties with cash reserves typically earn interest on their surplus funds, which can add millions to their reserve supply. As these counties are forced to tap into their savings, they will lose this additional interest. Dauphin County, for instance, is reporting it will lose over three hundred thousand dollars in interest payments because it was forced to spend money from its reserve funds. In future fiscal years, that loss could translate into higher taxes or reduced county services.

We Deserve Better

This is not the first time that Pennsylvania lawmakers have allowed partisan politics to get in the way of funding the state. Budget impasses are becoming a staple of our Commonwealth. The longest impasse, in 2015, lasted into March of the following year! The polarization of the two major parties is depriving citizens of the services their tax dollars are intended to fund. The state has not seen fit to halt collection from your weekly paycheck, but the services those funds were meant to provide continue to be unavailable as democrats and republicans refuse to set party interests aside and do the job they take your tax dollars to do. We need to come together as citizens and give them the layoffs faced by county employees. Legislators who can’t work together to maintain the basic function of the government are not competent enough to be reelected. It’s time for a change, Pennsylvania. The two-party system is hopelessly dysfunctional. How many more years will we vote for the same parties and expect different results?