![\"Lackawanna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/STT-L-BUDGET-1106-03.jpg\")
Lackawanna County Commissioner Brenda Sacco listens to public remarks during the final budget hearing held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\nSCRANTON \u2014 Lackawanna County commissioners congratulated Wednesday Democratic commissioner-elect Thom Welby, the winner of Tuesday\u2019s special election to fill former Democratic Commissioner Matt McGloin\u2019s unexpired term.<\/p>\n
They also authorized an up to $5 million line of credit the county could draw down if the state budget impasse persists and continues to delay receipt of human services funding.<\/p>\n
Welby, a Scrantonian and former Democratic state representative, defeated Republican Chet Merli of Blakely and independent candidate Michael Cappellini of Jessup to win the commissioner special election. He\u2019ll replace recently appointed Democratic Commissioner Brenda Sacco when the election results are certified later this month and serve into early January 2028, when McGloin\u2019s term expires.<\/p>\n
Sacco joined Commissioners Bill Gaughan and Chris Chermak in congratulating Welby at Wednesday\u2019s commissioners meeting. She had previously expressed hope that she, not the special election winner, would hold the seat for the remainder of McGloin\u2019s term.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would also like to thank all those who stepped up to run for a position in yesterday\u2019s election and to congratulate those who were victorious, and especially my dear friend Thom Welby,\u201d Sacco said. \u201cI would also like to thank county staff and poll workers for all their hard work in supporting the election process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lackawanna County Commissioner Brenda Sacco listens to public remarks during the final budget hearing held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
Gaughan, a major advocate for the special election, lauded Welby despite having endorsed Cappellini in the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cThom has a long record of public service and a deep understanding of the needs of the people of Lackawanna County,\u201d he said. \u201cI \u2026 respect and have always respected his dedication to our community, and I look forward to working with him in a professional and collaborative way to move our county forward. From the very beginning of this entire process I fought hard to make sure the people, not the politicians, had a voice and a vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gaughan voted with county Judge Terrence R. Nealon in late August to declare the special election. At the time he and Chermak, who abstained from the special election vote, were serving alongside Nealon as members of the county Board of Elections.<\/p>\n
Nealon and county Judges Margaret Bisignani Moyle and Frank Ruggiero currently make up the election board tasked with certifying Tuesday\u2019s results. The judges replaced the commissioners in that capacity because the office of commissioner was on Tuesday\u2019s ballot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d also like to congratulate all the winners in the election yesterday,\u201d Chermak said Wednesday. \u201cI know it\u2019s been a long-awaited election, especially in the commissioner\u2019s seat, so (I) look forward to \u2026 moving forward when Mr. Welby gets here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s meeting and a brief county budget hearing that followed in the afternoon lacked any visible acrimony among the commissioners. It was of stark contrast to recent sessions in that regard, particularly an Oct. 27 reorganization meeting where Sacco and Chermak replaced Gaughan as board chairman, making Sacco chair, and a highly contentious Oct. 29 budget hearing where Sacco and Gaughan sparred bitterly over a number of issues.<\/p>\n
Line of credit<\/p>\n
In terms of county business, Sacco, Gaughan and Chermak voted unanimously to authorize the up to $5 million line of credit from Fidelity Bank. The proceeds will be advanced as needed with the county incurring interest costs on the money it ultimately uses, attorney Brian Koscelansky told commissioners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping not to have to use it, but given the circumstances \u2026 we thought the additional precaution would be helpful,\u201d county Chief Financial Officer David Bulzoni said after Wednesday\u2019s meeting. \u201cWe would be hopeful that the state will reimburse us for that interest cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move comes more than four months into the state budget impasse that continues to hold up vital funding for counties, public school districts and other entities, with state lawmakers unable thus far to reach a compromise on a budget for Pennsylvania\u2019s 2025-26 fiscal year.<\/p>\n
PFM Group Consulting LLC, the county\u2019s grant-supported financial consultant, shared early last month a pair of cash-position projections, one showing the county ending 2025 with a $3.6 million general fund cash balance and another showing a $2.6 million year-end cash deficit. The difference reflects uncertainty stemming from the impasse, officials said at the time.<\/p>\n
They also noted in October that a $5 million state payment county officials anticipated in September can\u2019t be released until a state budget is adopted.\u00a0Human services revenue, which comes primarily from the federal and state governments, accounts for roughly 16.7% of the county\u2019s total 2025 general fund budget, officials said.<\/p>\n
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed in February a $51.5 billion budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year that began July 1, touting its proposed investments in public education, transit, economic and workforce development and other areas. Republican lawmakers skeptical of the proposal\u2019s revenue projections and critical of its increased spending levels blasted Shapiro\u2019s budget plan as unrealistic.<\/p>\n
The budget stalemate has persisted amid an inability by the state House and Senate to agree on a spending plan. Gaughan faulted Wednesday state Senate Republicans for failing to adopt budget proposals passed by the state House.<\/p>\n
Commissioners also authorized Wednesday an up to $15 million 2026 tax-anticipation note, a short-term loan that will deliver revenue early next year to sustain government operations pending receipt of 2026 tax revenues. Unlike the line of credit, it\u2019s standard practice for the county to take an annual TAN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014 Lackawanna County commissioners congratulated Wednesday Democratic commissioner-elect Thom Welby, the winner of Tuesday\u2019s special election to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,729],"class_list":{"0":"post-26017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-lackawanna-county","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-scranton","13":"tag-scranton-headlines","14":"tag-scranton-news","15":"tag-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}