Montgomery County, PA

NORRISTOWN — The Montgomery County Children and Youth and Juvenile Probation offices presented a budget plan Thursday that avoided deep program cuts many agencies across Pennsylvania are facing as a result of cuts in state and federal funding.
The first challenge that the County had to address was a $2.1 million funding shortfall for Fiscal Year 2004/05 that just came to a close.
The state Department of Public Welfare overestimated the amount of federal funding the County would receive this past year and that, in turn, reduced the amount of money the state provided in matching funds for the total shortfall.
Fortunately, the Montgomery County Commissioners entered into a complex refinancing arrangement last month and were able to set aside $2.3 million in anticipation of this shortfall at no cost to the taxpayers.
"Being the only county in Pennsylvania with a triple-A bond rating enables us to do things other counties can’t do and our most vulnerable children are the beneficiaries of that," Commissioner Chairman James R. Matthews said.
The county will again experience a shortfall in Fiscal Year 2005/2006. Excess federal Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) funds that had been available to counties have been exhausted. For Montgomery County, this amounted to a $3.7 million loss in revenue. The state will increase its funding to help offset that loss, but it will still result in a shortfall of at least $2.4 million shortfall 2005/06.
Faced with similar funding cuts over a two-year period, many counties across the state are considering eliminating programs, reducing staff and other cost cutting measures.
The County operates on a calendar year budget, so the funding for the remainder of 2005 is in place, Commissioner Thomas Jay Ellis said.
"The challenge is going to be to come up with the entire $2.4 million in 2006 while holding the line on taxes," he said. "However we do it, we’re not going to reduce services to our children."
Commissioner Ruth S. Damsker said she remains hopeful that additional state funding will be forthcoming.
"These children have been adjudicated by the courts or they have been neglected and abused by the adults who are supposed to take care of them," she said. "They are our most vulnerable residents."