{"id":6082,"date":"2025-10-17T17:21:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T17:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/6082\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T17:21:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T17:21:26","slug":"northampton-county-workers-spared-furloughs-amid-pa-budget-impasse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/6082\/","title":{"rendered":"Northampton County workers spared furloughs amid Pa. budget impasse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Furloughs planned next week for approximately 175 Northampton County human services workers<\/a> are expected to come off the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I can say is tonight, based on our cash position today, we should not need to implement furloughs through the end of the year,\u201d county Executive Lamont G. McClure said at Thursday night\u2019s County Council meeting.\u00a0\u201cI do believe we will be able to get through the balance of the year without implementing furloughs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Human services staff, including child welfare caseworkers, mental health crisis workers and aging services workers, were set to be let go temporarily as of Monday due to the ongoing state budget impasse, according to SEIU Local 668, which represents county human services workers.<\/p>\n

The union and officials with agencies contracted by the county to provide services held a rally Sept. 26<\/a> outside the county\u2019s building on Emrick Boulevard in Bethlehem Township to protest the planned furloughs.\u00a0Their work provides mandated services, including child protection, aging services and behavioral health, according to SEIU, which said interruptions \u201ccould endanger lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

McClure\u2019s news Thursday came after several people, both employees and at least one outside provider contracted with the county, asked council to intervene on their behalf.<\/p>\n

Tiffany Smith, a 20-year employee who works for the county\u2019s Area Agency on Aging, worried about being left economically insecure from a furlough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stress this is creating is harmful to my health,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

More importantly, she said, county residents need the human services workers, who provide critical aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cA furlough would throw the Human Services Building into chaos,\u201d she said. \u201cTo me it is unconscionable. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Administration officials have said services would continue operating with nonunion workers handling much of the workload.<\/p>\n

Kristen Bertucci of Recovery Partnership in Bethlehem, which supports people experiencing mental illness and homelessness, said the agency has not been paid by the county in four months and is owed $250,000. She said the agency has laid off 16 of its workers.<\/p>\n

She also estimated 8,000 people will lose service from her agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just the county workers [who are affected],\u201d said Bertucci, Recovery Partnership\u2019s human resources director.<\/p>\n

Lehigh County has not furloughed workers or withheld payments to contract vendors, General Services Director Rick Molchany said Friday.<\/p>\n

He said the county plans to manage cash-flow issues by instead seeking a bridge loan. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an awful position for us to be in,\u201d said Molchany, expressing disappointment that both state and federal lawmakers have not reached new budgets.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Controller Mark Pinsley has recommended Lehigh County consider temporarily withholding millions of dollars certain payments it normally remits to the state until a state budget is in place.<\/p>\n

Lehigh County commissioners must approve Pinsley\u2019s recommendation<\/p>\n

Some on Northampton County Council were not pleased with McClure\u2019s actions. He previously said he was required to provide the SEIU Local 668 with news of the furloughs under its labor contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why we created this mass hysteria,\u201d said council Vice President John P. Goffredo.\u00a0\u201cWhy would we scare 175 people?\u201d<\/p>\n

McClure said he could not rescind the furlough notice, citing it as basic governance.<\/p>\n

McClure also said cash flow estimates were more dire when the notice was issued. He had previously been told the county would go negative on cash Nov. 4. The timetable has been moved to a later date since the earlier projection, he said.<\/p>\n

Steve Catanese, the union\u2019s statewide president, said Friday that Local 668 was disappointed \u201cthat it took all this anxiety, theatrics and a 30-day furlough notice that was issued prematurely\u201d in regard to the change in cash flow.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least they went on record that the county does have sufficient cash on hand to ride this out through the end of the year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

McClure also told council the county is exploring the possibility of getting a $10 million loan from the state treasury while the budget stalemate continues, but only if the loan will be given interest free. Those details are still being worked out, he said.<\/p>\n

Borrowing has been seen by McClure as a last resort, telling council such action could \u201creally hamstring\u201d the next administration. McClure is not seeking reelection. Democrat Tara Zrinski, the county controller, and Republican Tom Giovanni, a County Council member, are running to be the next executive.<\/p>\n

In response, council member John Brown told McClure: \u201cYou are hamstringing the employees\u201d over the uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI empathize and do understand the situation they are in through no fault of theirs,\u201d McClure said. \u201cBut I believe we can manage our way through this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone at asalamone@mcall.com.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 17, 2025 at 10:25 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Furloughs planned next week for approximately 175 Northampton County human services workers are expected to come off the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,182,139,434,28,432],"class_list":{"0":"post-6082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-northampton-county","14":"tag-pennsylvania","15":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6082","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=6082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}