Northampton County officials warn human services providers face strain as state funding remains stalled

Chair Powell opened the Human Services portion of Northampton County’s budget hearing by asking staff to explain the status of grant funding amid the state budget impasse.

County staff said federal funds have continued, but the county has not received quarters 3 and 4 of the state block grant and that some state allocations are delayed. “The block grant money we get quarterly — we have not received quarters 3 and quarter 4 of our calendar year because that's under their State budget impasse,” Chair Powell said during the hearing.

Staff described how some funds are pass-throughs and run on a July 1–June 30 fiscal year, which complicates the county’s calendar-year budgeting. Ms. Swondelloski explained that the Homeless Assistance Program and the Human Services Development Fund are allocated to providers and that MATP (transportation) is a pass-through where the county receives and invoices to LANTA.

Officials said ARPA-funded projects…