House budget could mean a $11 tax hike for county

But the probation department would feel the biggest pinch, to the tune of $600,000

Jim Hook
Chambersburg Public Opinion

HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania budget passed by the House would cut $800,000 of direct payments to Franklin County.

Joe Maclaughlin, of Franklin County Probation, speaks to a group of James Buchanan High School students about his career. Freshman students got the opportunity to listen to career advice during rotating sessions at JBHS Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016.

The lost state revenue would equate to a half mill of county real estate tax, a tax hike of about $11 for a typical homeowner. The median home in the county is valued at about $150,000 and assessed at $21,000.

David Keller, chairman of the Franklin County Commissioners, estimated the potential loss in revenue, but did not say how the county would deal with such cuts.

“We are waiting for more updated versions of the state budget draft before problem-solving potential budget deficits by the state,” Keller said.

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Other state services, such as veterans outreach and inspections of restaurant and dairies, could suffer under the House draft of a state budget.

The Senate has yet to pass its version of a budget. The deadline for a state budget is June 30.

GOP legislators have praised the House budget for spending $150 million more on public schools, special education and early childhood education. They also laud the additional $150 million for help in caring for people with intellectual disabilities.

But the House bill would cut elsewhere:

  • The Department of Agriculture would lose $2 million, the equivalent of 21 positions, according to Ag Secretary Russell Redding. That’s about a third of the department’s inspectors, and their loss would mean 8,000 fewer restaurant inspections a year “at a time when the department is already struggling to keep pace with municipalities turning over inspection responsibilities to the state.”
  • Department of Military and Veterans Affairs would lose $3.7 million, double the cut proposed by Wolf. Brigadier Gen. Tony Carrelli said his agency would have to furlough 45 to 65 employees by Feb. 1. The department employs more than 2,200, operates six veterans’ homes and provides outreach and transportation for veterans.

The counties would feel the sting in criminal justice and human services. Centre County commissioners have estimated a loss of $800,000 in state funding, Lebanon County commissioners $1 million.

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Probation departments hit hard

The House budget draft would eliminate state funding for adult probation ($16 million), juvenile probation ($19 million) and intermediate punishment treatment ($18 million). At the same time it sets aside $3 million for expanding drug treatment courts in counties that don’t have them. It eliminates Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposal to spend $10 million providing naloxone, a drug used to treat opioid overdose in emergencies, to first responders and schools.

Franklin County Adult Probation is located at 440 Walker Road, Chambersburg.

Franklin County Adult Probation would take the brunt of the local hit – about $600,000. Juvenile probation would take a $134,221 cut.

“By any measurable standard our officers have too many cases,” Adult Probation Chief Dan Hoover said. “If we’d lose any officer because of these budget cuts, it would be a devastating blow to our department.”

Adult probation has 28 officers each with a caseload of 160 to 180 offenders, Hoover said. The American Correctional Association recommends a caseload of 60 to 70.

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“Since 2010 we’ve seen a 30 percent increase in offenders that we have on active supervision,” Hoover said. “We haven’t had a large increase in staff.”

State budget cuts in human service programs may undermine probation efforts. The House budget cuts $4 million from county behavioral health programs across the state.

“If this all goes through the county’s going to have some difficult decisions about what they are willing to absorb and what they can absorb,” Hoover said.

The General Assembly amended a statute in 1986 with the intent of paying 80 percent of county probation salaries for positions added after 1966.

“The state has not complied with the legislation for years,” Hoover said.

Probation officer Dan Signore displays an electronic alcohol monitoring system called SCRAM on Thursday, July 2, 2015 at Franklin County Adult Probation, 440 Walker Road, Chambersburg.

The state’s share has fallen to 18 percent. Grant-in-aid funding peaked at $21 million in fiscal 2006 and was $16 million last year. The money is eliminated in the House budget.

The state consistently since 1993 has paid for two probation officers in Franklin County to man the intermediate punishment -- electronic monitoring and house arrest in lieu of incarceration.

More than 75 cents of every dollar generated by the Franklin County real estate tax pays for courts and corrections.

The House budget proposal would trim another $65,000 from the Franklin County budget – $58,000 for a court interpreter and $3,000 each for senior judge and trial reimbursements.

The House budget passed 114-86 in April in a strong party-line vote. Republican legislators representing districts in the region voted in favor of the budget. 

Jim Hook, 717-262-4759