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The director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency complained this week that cuts contained in a proposed budget from state House Republicans would compromise the agency's mission.
Blair County Emergency Management Director Mark Taylor agrees.
State Rep. John McGinnis, R-Altoona, does not.
The proposed House Republican budget, which proposes a 6.5 percent cut in general government spending, would lead to layoffs at PEMA that would create problems for the Commonwealth Watch and Warning Center and reduce the numbers of training and exercise personnel and of workers who help local communities during emergencies, according to Richard Flinn.
The budget proposal, outlined in House Bill 218, would also cut
$4.7 million for disaster relief needed as a match for $38 million in federal relief money for flooding last October in Centre, Bradford, Lycoming and Sullivan counties, jeopardizing completion of repairs there, according to Flinn.
The budget proposal would also lead to the loss of $10 million in federal money from the Homeland Security Grant Program and the Emergency Management Performance Grant Program, leading to the elimination of 20 posts and the loss of funding for 35 county emergency management jobs, according to Flinn.
Blair County would have less money for equipment used to build capacity and for training and planning, if the House Republicans succeed in cutting the Homeland Security program, Taylor said.
In the past, money from that program has gone toward the purchase of equipment for water rescue, equipment for handling hazardous materials and for training to put into practice a new policy that allows emergency medical services workers to enter "warm" zones under police protection during active shooter incidents to treat injured people, according to Taylor.
The proposed performance grant cuts could impact salary levels and personnel numbers in the county's Emergency Services Department, according to Taylor.
McGinnis said the PEMA director's expressions of alarm are "excessive."
The state budget is a work in progress, and virtually every segment of government and interest group targeted for cuts will be "up in arms" -- except for the House itself, which seeks to lead by example with a proposed 7 percent funding reduction, McGinnis said.
A 6.5 percent cut for PEMA will hardly jeopardize health and safety, according to McGinnis.
"All he seems to talk about is loss of jobs," McGinnis said. "If we can do state government with fewer jobs, I'm all for it."
PEMA has lots of new technology that ought to enable it to do what it needs to do with fewer people, he said.
If a cut means that local agencies must do more, "that sounds like a good thing," he added.
The July 1 deadline for adoption of the budget is eight weeks away.
It's 50-50 that it will get done by then, McGinnis said.
He's actually more optimistic than many because "the key players" -- Gov. Tom Wolf, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, and House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, -- "are motivated," he said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.