The Pennsylvania State Capitol is seen, Monday, June 30, 2025, in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Aimee Dilger)

With the state budget more than seven weeks late, local leaders and community service agencies in south-central Pennsylvania are anxious about how a protracted impasse could negatively impact their communities.

According to Blair County Commissioner Laura Burke, the commissioners are “very upset that (the budget) hasn’t passed on time,” since state funding is essential to the day-to-day operations of many county government services.

If the impasse stretches past the end of September, the commissioners will have to have a serious conversation about scaling back several services due to lack of funding, Burke said.

Burke did not have details on what specific services would be under consideration, since it depends on the ultimate length of the impasse and each respective agency’s financial condition at the time.

The fear of the commissioners is a repeat of the 2015-16 budget debacle, Burke said, where the nine-month impasse forced several county governments to open lines of credit to have enough funding to provide essential services until the resumption of payments from the commonwealth.

These counties were not reimbursed for the fees or interest on these loans, adding to the financial strain some of the counties were already experiencing.

Budget impasses are, unfortunately, becoming more common in Pennsylvania, Burke said.

“They’re really becoming a norm for Harrisburg, and people should be concerned about this impasse,” she said.

Burke recently returned from a County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania statewide conference where “concern (about the budget) is definitely high.”

In a joint statement published after the conference, the association called on Gov. Josh Shapiro and both chambers of the state legislature to “prioritize your responsibilities and work together to finalize a budget without delay. The current system is irresponsible and does a disservice to the citizens of Pennsylvania.”

Both chambers have passed their own respective versions of the budget, but ongoing disagreements about several issues, primarily how to fund SEPTA — the public transportation agency for the Philadelphia region — have derailed negotiations.

The agency is facing sharp cuts in services offered unless an influx of state funding is delivered in the new budget.

“There is not a lot we can all agree on, but there is universal concern for this (budget situation), it’s not acceptable, it doesn’t help anybody and it only hurts their constituents,” Burke said.

According to Blair County Senior Services Board of Directors treasurer Dean McKnight, the thought of a protracted budget impasse is “scary.”

Senior services provides free meals for seniors, transportation, and a number of other essential support services for Blair County residents.

McKnight said that disruptions in state payments, like during a budget delay, makes it hard for the agency to retain staff, since they need steady paychecks to cover their own bills.

“It makes it difficult to plan,” McKnight said, noting that staff have to juggle a number of critical services often on shoe-string budgets.

With an increase in state funding, the senior services agency would be able to expand its range of services, such as additional bused transportation options, that would represent a quality of life improvement for program recipients, he said.

“It’s the heartache of the people who need our help and we can’t serve them,” McKnight said.

Libraries ‘vulnerable’

According to Jennifer Knisley, director of the Altoona Area Public Library, while the library has not felt the impact of the budget impasse yet, it has begun to “throttle” the pace it acquires new materials as a precautionary measure.

The library spends about $130,000 annually on new books, multimedia works and digital resources, she said, but will now slow the pace of these purchases in case the impasse stretches into the fall.

“We’re still buying books but we’re being ‘extremely selective,'” Knisley said.

If the impasse lasts into the fall, Knisley said that library leadership would be forced to consider adjusting hours of operation and/or the services it offers in order to stay open on a reduced budget.

Bedford County Public Library director Matt Godissart said he is “planning ahead,” in case of an extended standoff in Harrisburg.

Godissart oversees two of the smallest libraries in the region, in Saxton and Hyndman, which already operate on a “razor-thin budget.”

Any delay in state funding would render them “vulnerable,” he said, since they would not have the financial reserves of a larger library.

Godissart said that if push came to shove, the Bedford County system would have to cut some subscriptions to digital resource services like Hoopla in order to stay above water.

Mirror Staff Writer Conner Goetz is at 814-946-7535.