On Thursday night — the fate of nearly 200 Northampton County employees continues to hang in the balance.
The three-and-a-half-month-long state budget impasse is withholding funds used to pay the county’s human services employees.
Earlier this month, the county executive said workers may have to be furloughed beginning Oct. 20.
But now, he believes the county could retain the employees for a few more months.
A total of 175 of Northampton County’s human services employees may soon be temporarily let go without pay.
“I can’t just leave and get another job; this type of work is a calling,” said Tiffany Smith, a human services employee.
The affected staff include caseworkers who provide services to abused children, the elderly, and people struggling with mental health issues.
Without a state budget, the county may not have the financial means to keep those employees on the payroll. Union advocates say this could lead to cuts in services that many county residents rely on.
“If a child is in danger and a call for help is made, if someone needs aging services to get by day to day, if someone’s going through drug and alcohol treatment and relies on those services to avoid relapse,” said Steve Catanese, president of SEIU Local 668.
At Thursday’s Northampton County Council meeting, County Executive Lamont McClure said that after further financial assessment, it appears the county can delay furloughing the human services employees until January — if a state budget still hasn’t been passed by then.
However, he said the Oct. 20 notice to employees will remain in place due to what he called “basic governmental activities.”
“Very often at the end of fiscal years and early into the next fiscal years, there are rogue bills that come in from out of nowhere that no one foresaw, that could change our cash position overnight,” McClure said.
The bottom line:
“I do believe we will be able to get through the balance of the year without implementing furloughs,” he added.