Counties in Quandry

Counties across Pennsylvania could face a number of difficult decisions, if the state budget isn't settled in the coming weeks. The commonwealth is one month into its new fiscal year and there's no spending plan in place.
But, county government budgets operate on a calendar year so they're already well past the midpoint in their financial plans.
Doug Hill is the executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. He says counties face a number of tough decisions -- such as deciding whether to continue some services and renew contracts with providers.

"The longer the state budget is delayed, the more difficult it's going to be for us to account for any differences between what we anticipated coming in from the state and what actually comes in from the state. And that makes our choices for service delivery incredibly difficult."

Hill says the recession has led to a greater demand for county human services, ranging from mental health to drug and alcohol treatment -- straining budgets further. He says the current impasse is different from years past, because virtually every proposal will hurt counties' abilities to provide help to people in need not only this year, but next.