Governor Rendell: Pennsylvania Has Made Payments Delayed by Budget Impasse

HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Edward G. Rendell
and Treasurer Rob McCord today announced that the commonwealth has achieved
its goal of expediting payments that had been delayed by the budget impasse,
including crucial social services and education funding.

"When the budget was enacted Oct. 9, a key question was how soon we would make
the goods and services payments that had been delayed by the budget impasse,"
the Governor said. "Our plan was to pay approximately $3 billion in invoices
in the week following budget enactment. I am happy to report that, between
budget enactment and today, we will have made payments of $3 billion.

"Since Oct. 9, we have made nearly 8,000 payments that had been delayed by the
impasse, focusing first on high-priority items such as basic education,
special education, child care services, child care welfare, the Children's
Health Insurance Program, Pre-K Counts and Head Start," he said. "We have now
processed all but a handful of the disbursements delayed by the budget
impasse. We are also expediting those remaining payments."

High-priority payments included $1.5 billion for basic education, special
education, accountability grants and other education services; $225 million
for child care welfare to 275 recipients; $122 million for child care services
to 69 recipients; and $27 million for Pre-K Counts to 155 recipients, the
Governor said.

"It was our goal that all money delayed by the budget impasse would be paid
within 10 business days of my signing the budget, with the highest-priority
payments made four to six business days after I signed it," he said.

"We were able to make all priority payments within four business days after
the budget passed, and we returned to normal processing of invoices on Oct.
16. We more than met our goals, thanks to the hard work, dedication and
coordination of staff in the Office of the Budget, the Office of
Administration and the state Treasury."

"The women and men of Treasury were proud to work nights and weekends to help
get these needed funds out the door fast," said McCord. "There was a deep need
for speed. If ever there was a time when 'the check is in the mail' had to be
true -- this was it. And thanks to the efforts of Treasury's dedicated
employees, we met that need."

The Governor explained that, in anticipation of budget enactment, the staff of
the Office of the Budget worked closely with the Treasurer's office to
identify and prioritize payments that were delayed as a result of the budget
impasse.

Immediately after the Governor signed the budget the evening of Oct. 9, Budget
Secretary Mary Soderberg transmitted the official expenditure notifications to
the Treasury. The Office of the Budget's comptroller operations division began
sending invoices for processing by Treasury that night and continued to work
through that weekend.

On Tuesday morning, Oct. 13, the Treasury began to cut checks and made
arrangements for electronic fund transfers that began on Wednesday, Oct. 14.
By the end of that day, $2.4 billion in payments had been made. As of today,
the state has made payments of more than $3 billion.

"This was an incredible effort that could not have been accomplished without
the coordination and planning of the Treasury Department, the Office of the
Budget and the Office of Administration," the Governor said. "The hard work of
these dedicated employees helped end the harmful effects of the budget impasse
for thousands of Pennsylvanians."

Media contacts:
Susan Hooper, Office of the Budget; 717-265-8067
Gary Tuma, Governor's Office; 717-783-1116

SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of the Governor

Susan Hooper, Office of the Budget, +1-717-265-8067; or Gary Tuma, Governor's
Office, +1-717-783-1116