RIDGWAY – North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and
Development Commission officials said if the state budget isn’t
passed soon, services provided by local development districts will
have to be cut.
North Central Executive Director Eric Bridges explained the
effects of the budget crises with a hand out. Bridges said North
Central has been able to continue its services with the help of its
federal money and by identifying other means of funding, but that
may come to an end soon.
“The impact is very real,” Bridges said. “To a certain degree, a
lot of the state resources are dollars used to match other federal
resources. That means how long will those federal agencies allow us
to continue without those matches?”
In February, Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposed budget called for North
Central to lose a quarter of its funding. North Central wasn’t
happy to see that, but understood the circumstances and was
prepared to deal with it.
“We understand we would have to do more with less,” Bridges
said. “In the six months since then, there has been no movement or
what our final numbers will be. We are operating completely in the
dark. It’s becoming precarious. The federal government is still
holding local development districts in Pennsylvania to their
performance measures.”
Letters detailing the critical situation were sent to all the
state legislators, but only one, state Rep. Sam Smith,
R-Punxsutawney, has replied so far. He said Rendell is responsible
for the budget not being passed because he vetoed the majority of
the budget.
“SB 850 was passed and the governor line-item vetoed over 60
percent of the budget, essentially shifting the budget hostages
from state workers to state programs,” Smith said in his response
letter. “The governor’s veto of state funding ensures that programs
will now endure grave hardship.”
Executive board chairman Paul Corbin, who is a Jefferson County
Commissioner, requested that Bridges send the summary to the state
legislators and local chambers of commerce. Bridges said they were
also considering sending it to the local stakeholders, not
necessarily asking them to do their own advocacy, but to let them
know (what is happening).
“If the impasse continues into September, North Central will
have little choice but to drastically cut back and potentially
terminate all the services associated with these programs,”
Bridges’ summary says. “More than 330 businesses would lose access
to programs, a loss of more than $12.6 million in leveraged private
money, the loss of about 1,100 jobs and a combined loss of more
than $90 million in sales.”
If the budget issue isn’t resolved by October, it could result
in the loss of millions of dollars from the federal Appalachian
Regional Commission and Economic Development Administration grants.
North Central does not have the match for the money, and doesn’t
know how much it can anticipate getting when the budget is finally
passed.
“If the impasse continues it will really force our hand and
require a significant expenditure reduction,” Bridges said.
Officials said other programs at risk are the Government
Procurement Program, the regional energy initiative and the
Economic Development Administration program. It could mean the loss
of $4.8 million in government contracts a month, a loss of all
energy demand reduction assistance capabilities. There would be no
money for North Central’s targeted small business expansion and
local job creation programs if the impasse continues.
The budget impasse also means there is no money for North
Central to spend on community development programs. The money in
place will be gone by early to mid-September and North Central will
have to terminate all the services associated with these
programs.
As a result, more than 200 communities and local governments
will not receive program assistance, 138 local officials will not
be trained, more than $300,000 in bulk energy purchase savings will
be lost and more than $50,000 in direct energy savings will be
lost, officials said.
There will also be no money for Pennsylvania’s World Trade
program, which supports the export and international trade program.
North Central received $67,000 last year for the program and the
result was more than $46.2 million in export sales. It was the
highest return on an investment for this program in the state.
The budget impasse has already resulted in the cancellation of
Pennsylvania International Week in September and forced the
shutdown of dozens of meetings in the region that had already been
prescheduled with overseas trade representatives brought to the
region through the World Trade PA program.
The lack of a budget means North Central cannot honor any active
training contracts or develop new training opportunities that
require financial support, the summary says. North Central is
unable to reimburse employers with subsidized contracts for
on-the-job training.
“Funding for technical training with post-secondary schools, as
well as support services such as transportation, child care, and
housing cannot be provided due to the Employment and Retention
Networks funds not being released,” the summary says.
“It’s a balancing act to provide services and protect the
integrity of the organization not knowing when the impasse will be
over,” Bridges said.
For her part, Amy Kessler, North Central’s director of
transportation, said new projects will not be added to the
Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP), which consists of plans for
roads and bridges, for 2010. The focus will be on taking another
look at the projects already on the plan.
The state never approved the tolling of Interstate 80, so in
2010 the Act 44 money will no longer be available. Districts are
being asked to put together TIP drafts by December.
“We are asked to put together a program when you don’t know what
your budget is going to be,” Kessler said.
Kessler said federal transportation money is set to run out in
September. There has been discussion of extending that for 18
months, but at this point the federal government is focusing on
health care.
Currently, there are about 500 projects on the TIP in the
region, with 300 projects in the long-range plan and another 200
already partially funded. Those projects already in the pipeline
need to be looked at again and reprioritized.
The next executive board meeting is slated for 9:30 a.m. Sept.
23 in the North Central offices.
