York County agencies and organizations stand to gain more than $1 million in funding if Congress passes its major spending package this week.
Most of the groups, which include the York City Sewer Authority, Schmidt Library at York College and Springettsbury Township, said they were notified about the money earmarked for them in the last two weeks.
A $100,000 grant for Springettsbury Township would be a big help to the municipality’s replacement work but came as no surprise, said Mark Hodgkinson, director of wastewater treatment.
“We pursued it, so we’re very aware of it being there,” said Hodgkinson said. The project is the largest under way for the township, he said.
Spending projects are a common way for legislators to curry favor at home, Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rick Santorum, R-Pa, as well as Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County, each supported several items in the list of the area’s potential funds.
The spending package, which contains the seven unfinished appropriations bills for fiscal 2004, faces a number of hurdles next week in Congress. But if it passes with unanimous consent – as recent spending packages have – the funds would be assigned for the coming year.
The potential $100,000 grant at Schmidt Library would be a substantial help for technology upgrades, said Director Susan Campbell.
The 2004 funds, combined with a past grant of $350,000, would cover most of the technology expenses in the library’s $5.25 million renovation project, she said.
It would go toward the creation of a wireless Internet network, a media center and enhanced classrooms to allow students to work on group presentations, she said.
“There’s no place for them to put them together or practice or anything like that,” even though such projects often are required for classes, Campbell said.
The new resources also will help students learn proper research methods “so they’re not looking for needles in haystacks, which is what they’re typically doing when they’re Google-ing,” she said, referring to the name of a popular search engine, which is a device used to search for information on the Internet.
The Nurse-Family Partnership Program at York Health Corp. also is slated to receive $50,000 from the funding.
The program, which assigns one of its four full-time registered nurses to pregnant, at-risk women in the city, needs that funding, said Karen McCraw, director of social services at York Health Corp.
Its current funds, part of a diminishing grant, will soon run out, she said.
Julie Smith, supervisor of the Nurse-Family program, said the program serves women who lack resources, including money, transportation and child support, to take care of their families.
“The mothers in this program live incredibly complicated lives,” Smith said.
“The nurse’s job is to teach them how to access community services and to be self-sufficient.”
County’s Possible Funding
Earmarked funds for York County in the FY2004 omnibus:
York College of Pennsylvania, technology upgrades for the Schmidt Library, $100,000 (Specter, Santorum)
York County Transit Authority (YCTA), buses and bus facilities, $100,000 (Santorum, Platts)
Springettsbury Township, a Biosolids Treatment Facility Replacement project, $100,000 (Platts)
York City Sewer Authority, infiltration and inflow removal infrastructure improvements, $250,000 (Platts)
York County, a court records improvement program, $150,000 (Platts)
York County Human Life Services, Inc., abstinence education and related services, $50,000 (Specter, Santorum)
York Health Corp., expansion of services of the Nurse-Family Partnership program, $50,000 (Platts)
Leg Up Farm, York, provide comprehensive therapy and rehabilitation for children, $175,000 (Specter, Santorum, Platts)
Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center, $100,000 (Platts)
By BECKY BOWMAN,
Medill News Service