Pennsylvania's counties are in a precarious situation. As the point of delivery for many services utilized by their residents, but having to count on limited resources and money from the state, counties seem to be constantly on the edge of wondering where funding will come from.
The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania is about to announce their list of legislative priorities for 2017.
They will no doubt include state funding for human services and maintaining the shale gas impact fee. Both were priorities last year too. The difference in 2017 though is the state is facing a budget deficit that goes into the hundreds of millions of dollars and a structural deficit of over a billion dollars in the next fiscal year.
On top of that, the opioid crisis has hit counties especially hard because often counties are paying for treatment.
We'll look at the needs of Pennsylvania's counties on Monday's Smart Talk with Doug Hill, the Executive Director of the County Commissioner's Association of Pennsylvania and Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste.