For many state employees, the temporary interest-free loan relief touted by Gov. Ed Rendell is out of reach.
"I thought, 'That's great,' but I knew my credit wasn't up to par," said Joann M., a residential services aide who works at the Ebensburg Center who asked that her last name not be used. "So they denied me, saying my credit wasn't good enough."
The 54-year-old said taking care of her dying mother for 15-months, plus being a single mother who raised two kids, put her in a hole that she was climbing out of until now. Without an end to the budget battle in sight, the 24-year employee said she doesn't know what will happen without a paycheck Friday.
"I really don't know what happens next," she said.
While the governor's office is telling state workers that it's arranged with banks and credit unions, particularly the Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union, to offer low or no interest loans to provide relief until a budget deal is hammered out, many in the area say the loans aren't going to them or anyone they know.
Rendell spokeswoman Mia Devane said efforts were being made to find more lending institutions willing to work with state employees, but he said 96 percent of the 33,600 state employee members of PSECU would qualify for loans.
She said as of Wednesday, three more central Pennsylvania credit unions have come on board - the Altoona VA Hospital Federal Credit Union, Franklin Johnstown Federal Credit Union and Your Choice Federal Credit Union in Altoona.
It's not just workers with bad credit who are getting turned away. Donald Knee, 27, a residential services aide at the Ebensburg Center, said he was told that he had great credit, but because he had a student loan, his debt-to-income ratio was too high. He just started repaying the loan in June, which is through the employee's credit union.
Knee said of the 64 workers at the Ebensburg Center, he knows of only five who received pre-approval letters for the budget-crisis loan. He said 11 people have told him they won't even apply because they know they won't qualify.
"I've started looking into getting a roommate because of the bills," Knee said, adding that when he called one of his utility companies about holding off a payment, he was laughed at.
Don Weitzel, a nurse assistant at the Hollidaysburg Veterans Home, said he was turned down for a loan through the credit union and said, "we don't have a slush fund to get money out of," a reference to the $200 million in funds controlled by the four legislative caucuses.
Weitzel, 44, said his credit isn't good because of "the situations of daily life," and he said he'll likely have to "pick up a part-time job just to keep my full-time job." He said workers at the home already have been putting in 12- to 16-hour days. Now, on top of being tired, they're stressed about making their next rent or mortgage payment. Soon, the East Freedom resident said, just finding the money to buy gas to get to work will be difficult unless the legislators and Rendell can come to an agreement.
"I'd like to put him on a dart board," Weitzel said, in reference to Rendell's quip during a television interview last week that state employees "should put a statue of me on their mantle places" for arranging zero interest loans in light of not receiving their paychecks.
"That's the remark that put me over the edge," Dave Cliber said. "It's like we're being made into political pawns."
Cliber, 49, who works at the Hollidaysburg Veterans Home, said he can't get a loan through PSECU because he doesn't belong to the credit union. He said if the budget stalemate continues, he'll be forced to dip into money he set aside to pay his property taxes. Cliber also said that if state employees aren't getting paid, they won't be spending money in area businesses.
"He doesn't have to worry about putting gas in his car," Cliber said of Rendell.
"Eventually, there are going to be call-offs," said Cheryl Fulton, 48, who works at the Ebensburg Center.
Fulton said she's not qualified for the loans, and as of Friday, she will have $7 in her bank account. She and her husband are both state employees, and despite cashing in her life insurance policy for $200, she's hard-pressed to know what they'll do to buy gas to get to work.
"We're being told, flat out, 'We don't care," she said of creditors. "People are going to have to call off if they can't afford to get to work."
Tom Holsinger, a 28-year PennDOT employee who is president of Local 2609 of the American Federation of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees, said the loan offer is cold comfort to the workers who are out doing their jobs.
"We've got all kinds of people waiting to see if they will or will not get a loan," Holsinger said, adding that even if they do, it won't be enough to cover people's expenses if the budget battle drags on.
Holsinger said legislators can still receive their per diem, up to $158 per day for food and lodging, while in session. He said it frustrates him because while state workers are doing their jobs, the legislators and governor have obviously failed to do theirs.
"It's not just Rendell," Holsinger said. "It's all of them."
He also suggested that legislators dip into the $750 million rainy day fund to either help bridge the gap in the budget or provide stop-gap funding until the budget can be worked out.
"What are they saving it for?" he asked.
Mirror Staff Writer Greg Bock is at 946-7446.
