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Compared to 2013, Luzerne County’s proposed 2019 budget funds 50 more employees, county Manager C. David Pedri told council Tuesday.
Council members Linda McClosky Houck and Harry Haas had requested the tally as part of budget discussions, in part because the administration has created positions since last year’s budget adoption.
There were 1,510 positions in 2013, and the proposed budget contains 1,560, Pedri said.
The count for years in between, according to Pedri: 2014, 1,506; 2015, 1,521; 2016, 1,501; 2017, 1,529; and 2018, 1,546.
Haas has said staffing was cut from 1,620 to around 1,430 due to “painful” layoffs in the first two years of the home rule government, which took effect in January 2012.
Pedri said the lower figure did not count part-time positions.
The county had a “full-time equivalent,” often called an fte, of 1,453 in 2013, compared to 1,507 in next year’s proposed budget, he said. That’s an increase of 54.
County Controller Michelle Bednar and Correctional Services Division Head Mark Rockovich also presented their budget requests Tuesday.
Bednar’s proposed budget would increase from $271,682 to $276,180, or $4,500, because she is seeking a new $5,000 allotment in case she needs an independent legal opinion during audits.
Pedri said he supports the request, citing an instance this year in which the county law division and controller’s office disagreed over the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino’s payment of hotel tax on complimentary rooms. Controller’s office access to an outside opinion could have been “very helpful,” he said.
Prison request
The administration’s proposed budget seeks $28.5 million for correctional services, which covers both the Water Street correctional facility and minimal offenders building on Reichard Street, both in Wilkes-Barre. After various cuts and additions are factored in, it is a net increase of $174,279.
Rockovich said he reduced some staffing-related expenses due to the retirement of veteran employees, allowing new ones at lower salaries. He also cut two correctional officer positions, with a third eliminated union position replaced by a new non-union one.
McClosky Houck asked if he will still meet minimum manning requirements, and Rockovich said, “Absolutely.”
Some utility expenses also decreased due to efficiencies, he said.
The increases include a 4-percent hike for food, which will rise from a combined $925,000 to $965,000 for both facilities.
Under the proposal, the overtime earmark will increase from $1.1 million to $1.3 million at the prison and from $105,000 to $125,000 at the minimal offenders building.
The growth stems largely from the need for more supervision and escorting of violent offenders and inmates with mental health issues and health conditions requiring hospital care, Rockovich told council.
Council Chairman Tim McGinley asked Rockovich if he can reduce his $275,000 request for housing inmates outside the county, which is the same amount earmarked this year.
Approximately $37,000 was spent on outside housing in 2017, and this year’s bills totaled about $43,000 through Oct. 5.
“So it looks like your costs have been well below what you anticipate,” McGinley said.
Rockovich said he expects to spend more than $100,000 this year, noting he must currently house a juvenile offender in another facility at $300 per day. Juveniles charged as adults can’t be mixed with adults under state law, and housing them inside the prison is difficult because the smallest prison block sleeps a dozen, he has said.
“If we have a situation where we need to move inmates out, we have to do it immediately,” Rockovich said in support of the $275,000 outside housing request.