HONESDALE, PA — Wayne County Commissioners on July 1 approved a $2,638,589 county plan for state funding of seven areas of county human services.

Originally made available to 10 counties by the Corbett administration, the grants now are available to 30 Pennsylvania counties. State block grants include funding for services such as mental health and intellectual disability community programs, child welfare special grants, homeless assistance, behavioral health services and drug and alcohol funds.

Wayne was one of the first 10 counties receiving the grants, and Human Services Administrator Andrea Whyte is a strong supporter of the program. She says the block grants allow a flexibility to move money to needed areas, rather than having to ignore unfunded needs and/or returning funds from other unused budget lines. “There is still some pressure to eliminate the grants, but those voices have dimmed as years go by,” she said.

“Local officials have the best appreciation of local needs,” said Commissioner Wendell Kay.

Critics of the program say that eliminating state legislators ability to target specific programs has cut out state funding for smaller programs and made auditing of its use difficult.

However, new programs have also resulted under the block grant system. Wayne’s innovation effort, parenting classes for parents who are drug and alcohol consumers, was noted by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Whyte admitted that block grants may not be the best route for all counties, since some have subdivided administration and compete with each other for funding. “We have an integrated system; more than that, we have an integrated culture in Wayne County,” she said.

“I’m very grateful for our system,” Kay said.

How much will be available is still in question. Gov. Tom Wolf has budgeted the restoration of a 10% across-the-board human services cut made by Corbett in creating the block grants. The state budget, which was supposed to be completed by June 30, remains unfinished, with no end in sight.

Whyte said last week that she was hopeful of getting some of the cut funds restored, but based her budget on last year’s figures. Wayne’s human services budget also includes $712,962 in local and grant funding, she said.

In other business, the commissioners approved their portion of funding for a four-county, Workforce Opportunity Innovation Act (WIOA) program that provides work for disturbed and abused adults and youths. The federal program is funded at $413,015.

They also approved acceptance of up to $56,745 in PennDOT funding to cover 80% of the cost of mandated bridge inspections included on a three-year cycle through 2019.