DANVILLE — The elimination of Montour County’s West Nile virus program is yet another reason residents should be calling state legislators and demanding that a state budget be passed, the county commissioners say.
Come Monday, 36 counties — including Northumberland, Snyder and Union — will lose West Nile virus program funding as a result of a proposed $1.5 million cut from the Department of Environmental Protection.
The state budget is 58 days overdue.
“Call, scream, holler, march out front, go to Harrisburg,” Commissioner Jack Gerst said Tuesday night of contacting legislators over the budget deadlock.
Added Commissioner Trevor Finn: “It is imperative people contact their legislators to get this budget impasse done away with. Write, e-mail or call legislators. Leave messages every day, not only with our representatives but also with senior members and policy members. I am worried that those who are most vulnerable will suffer.”
Infants and the elderly are the most at-risk populations to suffer from West Nile.
Because the West Nile program funding has been eliminated as a result of the budget standoff, Montour County risks losing Greg Molter, part-time vector control department director. A state grant — along with $5,796 the county contributes toward the program — pays his salary. Molter also serves as county zoning officer on a part-time basis.
Molter said the DEP grant for the program for the entire year is $49,481. The program has been in effect since 2000.
“I hope we don’t lose you,” Finn told Molter.
Molter replied: “I have to protect my family.”
One positive West Nile test pool of mosquitoes was found recently near Washingtonville, said Molter, who traps mosquitoes, sends samples for testing and sprays mosquito-prone areas.
Montour County’s West Nile virus program is among 36 in the state to lose funding. Funding in 7th- and 8th-class counties has been cut. Montour is an 8th-class county.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to continuing funding in metropolitan areas and not keeping the program in Union, Snyder, Northumberland, Montour and Columbia counties,” Molter said.
According to information Molter researched on the state’s West Nile Web site, an 84-year-old woman in Northumberland County died of the virus in 2003 and a 72-year-old man from Snyder County died of the virus in October 2003.
He said he attended a conference in 2007 where two survivors of the virus spoke. One was from Northumberland County and the other from Juniata County. He said they still were suffering from the virus a year after contracting it.
Pennsylvania’s West Nile program is one of the best in the nation, Molter said.
“We have a high population of elderly and quite a few nursing homes,” Finn said of Montour County.
Finn said Senate Bill 850, passed by the Senate and the House, provided $5.19 million for the program, and the governor requested $7 million-plus for West Nile abatement. A line item veto slashed $1.5 million from the program.
“I believe that’s why we are in the situation we are now,” Finn said.
“How many programs out there are not being funded, and why couldn’t they wait to reinstate it and then pay the bill?” Commissioner Jerry Ward asked. “This year has been probably one of the wettest seasons in years.”
Legislators, Gerst said, “live in a fantasy world and do absolutely nothing and still keep their jobs and benefits.”
Earlier, Ward said, “Leadership? I don’t think so.”
Finn said the county is the safety net, having to take care of indigent people and prisoners.
“All that we have done ...” Finn said. “We may not be able to make it through the end of the year. We have done everything in our power so far. We have changed insurance, changed banks, gone out and jacked up bridges, used inmate labor and have done quite a bit to save taxpayers money.
“If we can’t get the money the state owes us, the last thing we want to do is raise taxes, especially in these times,” Finn said.
Said Ward: “It’s a shame we have good employees and a good program and it is snuffed out. Rural counties don’t mean anything.”
Said Gerst: “We carry the ball as hard as we can. We really need some help. If (state lawmakers) don’t represent us now, don’t come looking for us for a vote, and I know they’re going to come.”
News
Related Photos
-
Karen Blackledge
Discussion
Board rankled by loss of West Nile program
- News
-
-
New Report: Large charitable donations on the rise
SEATTLE — Money donated by the nation's most chartable people is starting to catch up with pre-recession giving, thanks in part to some very large bequests from a few donors. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports today in its annual report of the nation's most generous people that the top 50 donors made pledges in 2011 to give a total of $10.4 billion.
-
State Rep. William DeWeese convicted on five counts in corruption case
HARRISBURG — A jury today convicted a senior Democrat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on all but one of six charges in the latest corruption trial stemming from a five-year investigation into the use of taxpayers' resources for political purposes.
-
State gas-drilling bill may pass today
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's top-ranking state senator says he's hoping for a speedy vote in his chamber on sweeping legislation to impose a drilling fee and update safety regulations on the booming natural gas industry.
-
Senator warns of 'dramatic' and 'difficult' state funding cuts
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's top-ranking senator says he expects dramatic and difficult spending cuts in Gov. Tom Corbett's budget plan. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said Monday that Pennsylvanians should be prepared for a debate on how best to use tax dollars, and he warned that he can't envision lawmakers raising taxes to ease spending cuts.
-
'It's just amazing'
PAXINOS -- Eli Manning may have been the Super Bowl's Most Valuble Player, but Henry Hynoski was the name on everyone's tongue in the Valley onSunday night. Patrons gathered in blue Giants jerseys to support Hynoski, the 23-year-old Elysburg native and Southern Columbia High School graduate who is now the proud owner of a Super Bowl championship ring.
-
Schools await word on Corbett's budget
SUNBURY -- Winston Churchill once said, "A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen."
-
DA wants Loving Care leader held liable for $68G fine
MIDDLEBURG -- More than a year has passed since the former corporation that operated a Selinsgrove personal care home was convicted of stealing a resident's money, but the case still lingers in court. In December 2010, Loving Care Nursing Center Inc. was convicted of stealing about $32,000 of former resident Francis T. Simonoski's money while he lived at the 308 S. Market St. home in 2007. The corporation was fined $100,000, which later was reduced to $68,000 following an appeal.
-
For Riverside couple, game day means party
RIVERSIDE -- Super Bowl Sunday is more than just a sports day for Joe and Leanna Muscato. It's also one of their biggest parties of the year. They have been holding Super Bowl parties for 32 years. They have been holding Super Bowl parties for 32 years. "When it started, it was in my little apartment" in Danville, Leanna said. Only eight people were at the first gathering. Now, there are usually 25 to 30 people every year.
-
Who will feed US?
SUNBURY -- More than 60 percent of farmers are over the age of 55, and without young farmers to replace them when they retire, the nation's food supply would depend on fewer and fewer people. "This is an alarming revelation that we have been hearing for several years," said Tim Lesher, a member of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau's Young Farmer and Rancher Committee and president of the Northumberland County Farm Bureau.
-
A dip'll do: Few linger in 41-degree water
LEWISBURG -- Why? Group by group, about 250 otherwise perfectly sane-looking folks dived in and ran out of the Susquehanna River at St. George Street landing Saturday in the Seventh annual Polar Bear Plunge, part of the yearly Heart of Lewisburg Ice Festival.
-
5 of 9 coaches: Giants will be super
CATAWISSA -- Around 10 tonight, it will be the New York Giants being showered with multi-colored confetti, holding preprinted newspaper front pages that proclaim "GIANTS ARE SUPER!" and getting sweaty fingerprints all over the 7-pound sterling silver Lombardi Trophy, so say five of nine Valley high school football coaches.
-
State mandates manure must be managed
HARRISBURG -- Anyone who spreads manure on fields or has a pasture, barnyard or feedlot must now have a manure management plan, even if he has no animals and imports manure only for his fields, a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection official said Friday.
- More News Headlines
-
New Report: Large charitable donations on the rise
