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Amid state budget impasse, Allegheny County has avoided furloughing employees — for now

By Chris Hoffman

/ CBS Pittsburgh

As the state budget impasse drags into another month, it has a trickle-down impact on local governments across Pennsylvania. 

Some counties, including Westmoreland County, are already facing furloughs for county employees. In Allegheny County, leaders are asking directors to tighten their belts and be more conservative with spending.

Right now, there are no talks of furloughs or layoffs in Allegheny County. Abigail Garnder, a spokesperson for the county, said it has hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves to keep services running. So far, with this impasse, the county has used $75 million of reserve funds as it waits on state reimbursement.

"Luckily, we're a big county with a lot of liquidity and a lot of money. So, we are able to make those kinds of out ways while we wait for money to be reimbursed," Gardner said.

While Gardner says there is no cause for alarm, the county is implementing a slowdown of hiring, which means leaders are only hiring for essential positions. Where this does become a problem for the county is if it has to dip into its reserves more, which causes the county to lose out on interest that could grow on its accounts. 

"Especially if there is also a federal shutdown on top of the state shutdown, it could mean we are burning through cash reserves much faster than we had anticipated," Gardner said.

Overall, the county has a budget of around $3 billion, and hundreds of millions come from the state. Gardner said we should not see any impact on county services right now. If this impasse drags on, that could change.

"We're not going to stop doing the work, but it costs a lot to keep that going," Gardner said.

When the budget does pass, the money doesn't come down to county governments immediately. The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania says that it can take weeks.

"It's not like turning on a light switch, where once the budget is passed and signed into law, there's magically money in a county's bank account," said Kyle Kopko, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania.

It's estimated that for some counties, the state makes up about one-third of their budgets. 

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