NORTHUMBERLAND — The borough is in jeopardy of losing a $103,000 state grant that would pay Pennsylvania Conservation Corps workers to finish construction at the Second Street Community Center and take on other projects.
The 25 employees are scheduled to begin work next week at the community center, Pineknotter Park and Liberty Hollow playgrounds, and Liberty Splashland. But their employment is in jeopardy as the Pennsylvania Conservation Corps faces a $675,000 cut in state budget proposals.
“Right now, I can’t definitively say what will happen to Northumberland’s PCC grant until the state’s budget is actually passed,” said Troy Thompson, a state Department of Labor and Industry spokesman. Pennsylvania’s 2009-2010 spending plan is due Tuesday.
Five projects around Pennsylvania may have to be re-evaluated, Thompson said.
“Some projects might even have to be eliminated,” he said. “But for now, the only thing that might hold up the scheduled start of the Northumberland project is not lack of funding, but the fact that people haven’t yet been hired to do the work.”
The 25-year-old Pennsylvania Conservation Corps program — one of the largest of its kind nationwide — offers work experience, job training and educational opportunities to those ages 18 to 25. More than 14,000 people have gone through the program since 1984.
Fifty crews statewide are tasked with completing conservation, recreation and historical preservation projects.
Once a crew leader is hired, he or she is responsible for hiring about 25 workers.
Northumberland Borough is one of only 16 local political subdivisions to be awarded Pennsylvania Conservation Corps funding in 2009.
Despite a possible cut in funding, borough secretary Jan Bowman said Northumberland has the funds to “put people to work.”
“Whatever happens at the state level with PCC, our project will nonetheless move into the final stages of construction,” she said.
As of Thursday, Bowman she had not received any notification about possible reductions in the Pennsylvania Conservation Corps grant amount.
“We haven’t heard anything,” she said. “Neither good news about the fund, nor bad news. Nothing. We need to be patient, and wait for the budget to pass.”
Bowman and other borough officials on Thursday were busy interviewing potential work crew leaders.
“I really hope the funding is not in danger,” said Northumberland Councilwoman Judith H. Groninger. “We’re counting on it.”
-- E-mail comments to rdandes@dailyitem.com
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