Westmoreland looks to finalize job cut plan as state budget talks lag

Westmoreland County Treasurer Jared Squires will repay his October salary to the county so furloughs in his office can be prevented, he said Friday.

“They (commissioners) wanted me to furlough at least one person, so I thought the sacrifice needs to come from leadership first,” Squires said.

Commissioners this week directed department heads and elected row officers to trim staff, with furloughs expected to begin in October because of the state budget impasse. The final number of furloughed employees among the county’s 1,800-person workforce has yet to be determined, Commissioner Sean Kertes said.

The county’s human resources office is reviewing job cut recommendations from department heads and a formalized plan could be unveiled next week.

“We’re still compiling data and reviewing lists,” said Kertes, who expects one employee from each of the three county commissioners’ staffs to be furloughed.

Squires, who earns an annual salary of about $85,000, oversees an eight-person staff responsible for managing county cash and processing licenses and permits. He said that forfeiting his October pay is expected to save at least one job in his office.

Other offices

A memo obtained by TribLive shows that court officials have committed to furloughing up to 14 staffers, though they said the court schedule will not be impacted.

“Our workload will not decrease. The cases and litigants will continue to need to have their cases heard and processed,” Court Administrator Amy DeMatt said in an email to court-related offices.

Prothonotary Gina O’Barto and Clerk of Courts Megan Loughner each recommended the furlough of one employee. O’Barto’s office, which processes civil and family court records, will also temporarily suspend its Thursday after-hours program for passport services, although passport services will continue during regular business hours.

Recorder of Deeds Frank Schiefer announced the closure of his office’s copy center, where deed books and mortgage records are stored. Records will be available by appointment, while regular document filing services will continue uninterrupted.

First Assistant District Attorney Chuck Washburn said two temporary administrative positions would be furloughed, but the prosecutor’s office, with more than 60 staff members, would remain at its current level.

Kertes said the temporary job cuts will have limited impacts on the county-owned nursing home and the county jail. The election bureau will not be impacted by furloughs, he said.

Paying the bills

Finance director Meghan McCandless said the county continues to use cash reallocated from its general fund to make required payments. There is about $15 million in cash on hand for other general operations, while options including short-term borrowing to pay the bills is still on the table.

The county shells out about $4 million every two weeks to meet payroll obligations. County employees’ next payday is Sept. 26.

Westmoreland’s $452 million budget, which operates on a calendar year schedule, relies on nearly $104 million in state funding. The county has seen limited deposits of funds since the end of the state’s fiscal year on June 30.

Meanwhile, the cash flow remains limited. About a quarter of the county’s budget is funded through property tax revenue, with the bulk of those payments collected by late spring. Fees for services and federal funding account for the county’s remaining revenue sources, McCandless said.

Officials said cost-saving measures such as spending and hiring freezes and halts to overtime that were implemented this month have helped improve finances by about $700,000. Additional savings and a quick budget deal in Harrisburg could offset more substantial cuts in county services and could limit furloughs, Kertes said.

“We’re just preparing for the worst,” Kertes said.

Butting heads in Harrisburg

A budget deal in Harrisburg does not appear imminent, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Hempfield.

Ward said talks between the Republican-led Senate, Democrat-controlled House and the governor’s office continue. She blamed the impasse on Gov. Josh Shapiro and the Democratic lawmakers, saying they are seeking excessive spending levels for the upcoming fiscal year.

“While discussions are ongoing, no broad agreement exists, I support once again sending a budget to the House to release funding,” Ward said in a statement released Friday.