Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Bucks County officials confirmed Tuesday that they ceased remitting payments to Pennsylvania at noon.
The act is a form of protest against state leaders in Harrisburg who have left Pennsylvania without a budget since July 1. Bucks County is currently fronting roughly $5 to $6 million per month to help keep state-funded programs in operation.
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Since the budget impasse began in July, Bucks County has burned through nearly all of its $50 million reserve fund. The Bucks County Commissioners have floated the idea of taking out bonds come the new year to help cover the multi-million dollar gap caused by the budget impasse in Harrisburg.
“The reality of the situation is nobody at the state has felt any pain throughout this budget stalemate, which is now at 147 days,” Commissioners Chairman Robert Loughery said in a statement. “At this rate, we will run out of cash by the end of the year (funding resident services at their current level). We know other counties already have run out of funds. Bucks County will take the lead with this action, and we strongly encourage other counties to follow suit.”
Commissioners Charley Martin and Diane Ellis-Marseglia both stood behind the decision to withhold payments the county collects on behalf of Pennsylvania. The county’s independent row officers were also on board with the plan.
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Jeffrey Sheridan, spokesman for Gov. Wolf Wolf, told LevittownNow.com in a phone interview that the governor “understands the challenges counties across Pennsylvania are facing.” He added that school districts and human services agencies are also finding themselves in situations similar to Bucks County.
The issue has been brewing since only a month or two after the budget impasse started.
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“There’s only so much money we can draw upon,” Loughrey said last week. “The cash flow implications if their isn’t a budget soon and we continue to fund what we are funding, there will be no cash left.”
Loughrey suggested last week that the county look into holding the roughly $5 million they send the state each month in various department fees until the state pays the county back what they owe them. “For the last 5 months, we’ve collected $20-25 million for them, approximately what we’re out right now,” he said. “It makes no sense for us to send money to the state and then play out what [the state] owes.”
Wolf and Republicans in the state capitol came a to tentative budget agreement two weeks ago. Late last week, the deal fell apart and no new deal has been reached.
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Wolf spoke of the agreement Monday in Harrisburg:
That framework included a number of things both liked along with a number of things both sides disliked. It brought us much closer to a budget that was truly in balance. It proposed a historic increase in education funding including $350 million for basic education. It proposed historic property tax relief. It proposed real pension reform. It proposed real liquor reform. It proposed paying for this with an increase in the sales tax rather than an increase in the personal income tax or some combination of the two. Also, the framework did not include a shale tax.
Since then, we have been working with these same Republican leaders to work out the details of this framework. Unfortunately, that work looks like this project is in deep peril. The Republicans have been unable to muster the votes they need to transform this agreed-upon framework into a real budget. Instead they passed a liquor privatization bill that is identical to the one I vetoed in June.
The governor has told Republican lawmakers he is willing to continuing working under the previous framework of the tentative agreement to solve the budget impasse, Sheridan said.
