Highlights of the budget's impact on counties follows. Comparisons are to funding levels available in FY 2013-2014, but many of these programs have been cut repeatedly since 2002 with additional burdens shifted to the local level. For analysis of more county line items, check CCAP's commonwealth budget page at www.pacounties.org.

Agriculture and the Environment. The final budget agreement includes level funding at $3.38 million for county conservation districts; conservation districts also receive $7.5 million from Act 13 impact fee revenues.

Funding for general government operations for the Department of Agriculture, which includes nutrient management and conservation easement administration, sees an increase of $2.5 million. Funding for gypsy moth control is cut in the General Fund, but a transfer from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund will provide $3.7 million for state parks operations and pest management control under the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Black fly and West Nile virus are largely level funded. County fairs are also level funded at $3 million, after a $1 million increase in FY 2013-2014. Farmer's market food coupons and the food purchase program see level funding for FY 2014-2015.

While the Governor had proposed a $1.5 million increase for agriculture research and Penn State Extension through the Agricultural College Land Scrip Fund, the lines are level funded at $46.2 million in the final budget agreement. Finally, about $35 million is available in state funds for the farmland preservation program, provided through cigarette tax revenues and the Environmental Stewardship Fund.

Funding for community-based substance abuse prevention, intervention and treatment services remains at FY 2013-2014 levels. The Departments of Public Welfare and Drug and Alcohol Services have also been level funded, and the current level of funding is anticipated for the Single County Authorities. The legislature did not approve the Governor's proposed slight increase for intermediate punishment programs, so that funding stream also remains unchanged from the past two fiscal years.

Child Welfare. Funding for county children and youth services is increased a little more than three percent, with no restoration of the ten percent cuts that the agencies had suffered in FY 2011-2012. The primary concern is the cost of projected service increases due to implementation of new amendments to the Child Protective Services Law. Although there is no solid data regarding the anticipated impact, county estimates range from a 10 percent to 50 percent increase in investigation and legal costs. Other unknowns include the impact of the Title IV-E waiver pilot and recommendations that may come out of DPW's Rate Methodology Task Force.

Funding for the Children's Justice Act and the Nurse-Family Partnership all remain at FY 2013-2014 levels. Child care services receive close to a nine percent increase in funding, and federal child care assistance funding is reduced by more than four percent. A new appropriation of $2.25 million is included for Child Advocacy Centers through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

Community and Economic Development.

Many DCED programs, including the Municipal Assistance Program (which provides funding for planning and shared services), remain level funded in FY 2014-2015. The Office of Open Records, however, will receive a nearly 19 percent increase from FY 2013-2014. Funding for Marketing to Attract Tourists sustains a small decrease of nearly 2.5 percent from FY 2013-2014. The Pennsylvania First program, which offers grants for job creation, infrastructure projects and workforce development, is cut by nearly 50 percent to $20 million for FY 2014-2015. The Keystone Communities Program, funded in FY 2013-2014 at $11.8 million, is decreased by 45 percent, receiving only $6.1 million for FY 2014-2015.

Medical Assistance Transportation Program. State funding for MATP for FY 2014-2015 has been approved at $62.4 million in the final budget, a $1 million reduction from FY 2013-2014. Counties have and will continue to work with DPW to develop cost-containment initiatives and weed out fraud and abuse; still, MATP is federally mandated and needs to be appropriately funded in order for our most vulnerable citizens to receive necessary transportation to their medical providers.

Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, Early Intervention and Autism. County mental health base dollars, intellectual disability base dollars and the Behavioral Health Services Initiative line items are all essentially flat funded, maintaining the ten percent cut from FY 2012-2013. The budget includes an ID waiting list initiative, although it is funded at $13 million instead of the $22 million proposed by the Governor. In addition, funds are provided to move individuals from state mental hospitals and state ID centers to the community system, and to an interest list initiative for adult autism services. Early intervention is funded level with the FY 2013-2014 enacted budget.  

The budget will delay a month of payment to the physical and behavioral health managed care organizations (MCOs) until FY 2015-2016. In Pennsylvania, 43 counties hold the contracts with the behavioral health MCOs in HealthChoices and issue payments to the MCOs. This delay will not impact contracts, which already operate on a two-month payment delay.

Transportation. The transportation funding plan enacted under Act 89 of 2013 will increase overall funding for roads, bridges, transit systems and other infrastructure by $2.3 billion over a five-year period. The budget reflects the first year increases under the Act, including a $252 million increase in mass transit funding (capital, asset and operating funds), and an increase from $30 million to $97 million in multimodal funds. With the lift of the oil franchise tax cap, the county and forestry bridge millage yields an additional $6 million for FY 2014-2015. Those funds, along with the special $5 million bridge allocation retained from Act 44, will be distributed based on relative square footage of county owned bridges.