Senator aims to address concerns, suggests fiscal note changes

From Adams to York, from Bucks to Mercer, counties in Pennsylvania want to free themselves of costly mandates which account for up to 90 percent of their annual budgets.

State-level mandates have tied the hands of counties on a wide range of issues, including prison spending, health and human services costs, government contracts and landfill use. Making matters worse, many of the mandates are unfunded, meaning the state requires counties to provide services without helping to cover the costs.

Douglas Hill, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, said up to 90 percent of the annual spending by counties is the result of state-level mandates, although actual dollar figures vary widely because county budgets in urban and rural areas are very different.

It all adds up to higher taxes at the local levels. With state-level funding likely being cut back this year, the burden will fall more heavily on local taxpayers, said Mr. Hill.

“If the state is not going to be able to meet its financial obligations, we hope it can at least remove some of these costs from us,” said Mr. Hill.

State Sen. John Eichelberger (R-Blair), chair of the Senate Local Government Committee and a former county commissioner, is leading the Senate Task Force on Mandate Relief to study the cost and impact of state mandates on county and municipal governments. So far, the commission has identified more than 5,000 unfunded mandates on the books in Pennsylvania.

The commission’s final report is not due until October 2012 but Mr. Eichelberger said he hopes it bring the issue to the forefront during the upcoming budget process by bringing the issue to the attention of the General Assembly and the public.

“I’m sure it will be shocking to [the legislature], just to see the final report,” said Mr. Eichelberger. “In Harrisburg, people are doing what they think is right but they don’t realize the costs they are pushing to the locals.”

As part of the solution, Mr. Eichelberger thinks the state should amend the appropriations process to include local government spending on fiscal notes attached to legislation. Fiscal notes only cover state-level spending, leaving lawmakers in the dark about the cost of local government mandates passed in Harrisburg. However, such a change would only impact the passage of future mandates.

Sen. John Eichelberger (R-Blair)

In the long term, Mr. Eichelberger wants to free counties from state mandates on hiring policies and the requirement for all counties to have full time district attorneys.

He also wants to do away with rules requiring all local governments to advertise their contracts and legal notices in daily newspapers. A statewide online database could save local and county governments millions statewide and make the listings more convenient, he said.

Last week, the county commissioners unveiled their legislative priorities for 2011 and placed mandate relief at the top of the list, ahead of budget concerns. The commissioners want the state to repeal mandates on the use of jury commissioners, constables and other personnel which are seen as unnecessary. Jury commissioners, for example, were responsible for selecting jurors, a function handled by computers since the 1970s.

Yet the state continues to mandate each county have at least one jury commissioner, with a starting salary of at least $12,000.

In many cases, the savings associated with mandate reforms are difficult to calculate, since counties would still have to provide many of the same services, but might be able to do so at a lower cost or higher efficiency without state rules guiding the way.

Mr. Hill acknowledged the mandates targeted for changes are the “low hanging fruit.” Counties would find larger cost-savings with mandate reform on prisons, health services and the repeal of prevailing wage laws, he said.

Mr. Eichelberger called prevailing wage “an onerous mandate” which can push the cost of a public project by more than 10 percent and often slows down the work as well, since construction companies want to use as many hours as possible on the higher pay rate offered by prevailing wage government jobs.

Prevailing wage laws require local government pay all contracts based on the wages and benefits in the county’s largest municipality.

Mandate reform in the area of prevailing wage laws is also a concern for school districts in the state facing budget problems.

State Rep. Warren Kampf (R-Chester) last week introduced legislation to exempt school districts from prevailing wage laws.

State Sen. Jeffrey Piccola (R-Dauphin), chair of the Senate Education Committee, will unveil a school district mandate reform bill in early April, he said last week.