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Contracted providers describe months‑long payment delays; council asks solicitor to draft ordinance on borrowing and administrative duties
Summary
Contracted early‑intervention and social‑service providers told the council they have not been paid for months and have taken loans or withheld paychecks to continue services; council members urged the administration to use short‑term borrowing and directed the solicitor to draft an ordinance clarifying duties to ensure continuity of services.
Contracted service providers told Northampton County Council on Nov. 6 that delayed county payments are straining operations and risking service interruptions for vulnerable residents.
Alicia Austin, a Forks Township resident and employee of a county‑contracted agency serving Early Intervention clients, said contracted payments effectively ceased Sept. 5 and that a Sept. 20 memo told vendors to continue invoicing even though payments would not be processed. Austin said 10 agencies she contacted employ 139 therapists and that the vendors were owed $230,572 as of Oct. 20; she added that the total had increased by about $34,000 by the morning of the Nov. 6 meeting. Austin said providers have taken loans, delayed paying their own staff, or otherwise absorbed costs to keep infants and toddlers receiving therapy.
Kristen Bertucci, who works out of Bethlehem and serves organizations funded by the county, told the council she compiled an illustrative list of affected vendors and said uncertainty about the state budget impasse and the county’s approach to the state treasurer’s loan had caused organizations to hold staff and delay program reopening.
Council members pressed administration for a written accounting of outstanding vendor balances and asked whether the county could use short‑term borrowing or the state treasurer’s loan to continue funding core social services until the budget impasse is resolved. One councilor called for a formal ordinance to set duties and remedies to compel the administration to secure short‑term financing when necessary to prevent layoffs and program closures.
A council member asked the solicitor to draft an ordinance that would clarify the administration’s duties to ensure continuity of services and potential borrowing options. The solicitor confirmed the council’s legislative and budgetary authority and the council president said the body would seek an ordinance; council members agreed to have the solicitor prepare a draft for future consideration.
No binding ordinance was adopted at the Nov. 6 meeting; the action recorded was direction to the solicitor to prepare draft language for council review.
