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Commissioners hope to approve preliminary budget Dec. 8
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
By Jeff Corcino Staff Writer
State budget cuts have the Clearfield County fpbreakscrambling to balance its budget for 2010.
The state has cut fpbreakiapproximately $400,000 out of the county's allocation, $302,000 of which is from cuts n the Children, Youth and Family Services budget, said Commissioner Chairwoman Joan Robinson McMillen at yesterday's commissioners meeting.
The CYFS department received the deepest cuts because the state made an error in the figures it had submitted to the federal government so next year the federal government is reducing the state's allocation.
In addition, the state slashed its allocation to the county for court administration by $200,000.
McMillen blamed the state for placing unfunded mandates on county governments while reducing funds to the counties to pay for them.
"Every county in the state is in the same situation as us," McMillen said.
Because of the cuts, the county will need to transfer $719,000 of its own funds to CYFS, which is twice as much as the county had to transfer last year, according to McMillen.
After totaling the requests of county departments and the state cutbacks in conjunction with increasing costs for health insurance and labor, the county is now looking at a $2 million deficit that will need to be pared back for the county to balance its budget.
McMillen said the commissioners have been spending a lot of late nights and early mornings looking for ways to pare back the budget.
They are planning to contact Richard Gould, state deputy secretary of welfare, to see if the state can increase its CYFS allocation to the county and will be meeting with the county judges to look for ways to cut court costs.
Despite the deficit, Commissioner Mark McCracken said the commissioners are still hoping to pass the budget without a tax increase next year.
Despite the poor economy, local real estate taxes are only expected to decline slightly, approximately $20,000 out of the $9.7 million in collections, McCracken said.
Currently the county's real estate taxes are set at 21 mills. The county last increased taxes in 2006, McCracken said.
The commissioners are hoping to approve the preliminary budget at their Dec. 8 meeting, but could go up to Dec. 11 if necessary. State law requires the budget to be approved before the start of the year and for the preliminary budget be on display for 20 days prior to final approval, McCracken said.
In other business:
l the commissioners declined to comment at this time on the Oct. 31 arrest of Clearfield County Emergency Management Agency Director Joshua Quigley for driving under the influence and related offenses.
"Like everyone else, he is entitled to the presumption of innocence," Commissioner John Sobel said.
Quigley was pulled over for DUI early Oct. 31 by the Pennsylvania State Police.
He has since waived his right to a preliminary hearing, according to an article in today's edition.
Quigley was promoted to director of the county EMA on June 19, 2007, and was earning a salary of $40,401 in 2009, according to previous articles in The Progress.
l the commissioners appointed Dawn Graham as director of elections effective Nov. 23. Graham was a department clerk and, according to McMillen, she stepped up and took on additional responsibilities during the hiring freeze when the county did not have a director of elections.
The county did not fill the position for several months due to the hiring freeze in the county prompted by the budget impasse at the state.
"We are lucky to have Dawn as an employee," McMillen said.
The commissioners also voted to appoint Phyllis Lynch as part-time field assessor/assessment effective Nov. 16, and accepted the resignation due to retirement purposes of John Rowles, corrections officer at the Clearfield County Jail effective Dec. 4.
l the commissioners voted to advertise for bids for repairs to the approach on the Rush Township, Centre County, side of the Peale Bridge for a cost not to exceed $30,000.
The Cooper Township Supervisors have also pledged some in-kind work on the bridge approach, McCracken said.
The approach on the Centre County side of the bridge has become washed away and needs to be repaired, according to McCracken.
The county hopes to get the work on the approach completed before winter but work on the bridge itself and to make it one-lane won't be started until next spring, according to McMillen.
l the commissioners voted to approve the four-year contract with Johnston, Nelson & Shimmel of Clearfield to perform the annual audit of the county's financial records.
The firm will be paid as follows: 2009 audit, $37,000; 2010 audit, $37,500; 2011 audit, $38,000; and 2012 audit, $38,500.
The commissioners announced that there are two openings on the Clearfield County Recreation and Tourism Authority and one opening on the Curwensville Lake Authority. Those interested should submit letters of interest by Dec. 18.
If possible, the commissioners would like one of the open seats on the CCRTA board to go to someone in the restaurant industry.
l Sobel thanked Martha Tylwalk, Nick Suplizio and Jodi Grumblatt for their work in conducting the recount for the superior court judge write-in votes for the Nov. 3 election.
Sobel said the county had an unusually high number of write-in votes this year in many of the municipal elections and said the three did a great service to the county.
l the commissioners voted to approve the Liquid Fuels allocation to Chest Township for $1,190.
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