WILLIAMSPORT - The Lycoming County commissioners Thursday will consider the renewal of an agreement between the county and the state Department of Public Welfare to allow STEP Inc. to receive funding for its Child Care Information Service program.
On Tuesday, John LaRose, STEP director of early child care and education administration, said STEP is slated to receive almost $5 million for the program.
The program provides child care subsidies for income-eligible families and child care referral services for anyone in Clinton and Lycoming counties, according to LaRose.
Last year, the program assisted more than 1,000 families and 2,100 children, he said. This year, a projected 1,100 families and 2,300 children will be helped though the program, he said.
LaRose said the allocation is several hundred thousand dollars less than the agency received during previous years. That is due to a new way in which the DPW is distributing the funds, he said.
Allocations once were based on a set sum paid to the agency year after year. Allocations now are based on a county's waiting list for services, LaRose said.
"If our waiting list goes up, we get an increase accordingly," he said.
The commissioners will consider loaning about $830,000 in Build America bonds to the county Water and Sewer Authority for work associated with the construction of a regional water system in the eastern part of the county.
The county already loaned about $2 million to the authority, according to William Kelly, deputy director of the county Department of Planning and Community Development.
That money was used to expand the Halls Station Water System into a regional system that includes the construction of a water storage tank at the Grey Fox Plaza on Lycoming Mall Drive.
The loan up for consideration on Thursday will pay to extend that work into the Fairfield Road corridor, Kelly said.
The commissioners will consider the renewal of the county's prescription discount card program, which is available through the National Association of Counties.
The program was launched in 2007, said Mya Toon, county grants administrator. Since then, 36,000 people have used the card, which is available at the commissioners offices.
Users saved an average of 23 percent on prescriptions, with a total savings of $718,000, she said.
The commissioners will consider the purchase from Cleveland Brothers Equipment Co. of a Caterpillar track-type tractor that will be used at the county landfill in Brady Township.
The tractor costs $737,000, according to David Bonus, landfill operations manager.
The new vehicle will allow county Resource management Services, which operates the landfill, to take similar vehicles offline at the landfill for maintenance and reconditioning.
An arrangement with Cleveland Brothers allows the vehicles to receive a power train rebuild after 10,000 hours of use, and a total rebuild after that at a fraction of the cost, Bonus said.
The commissioners also will consider receipt of a $129,000 state Department of Environmental Protection Recycling Performance Grant.
The county receives the grant each year based on the amount of recycled material it processes, according to Jason Yorks, county resource recovery manager.
The commissioners will consider accepting a mutual consent letter from the DEP that will allow unused recycling grant funds from 2008 to be used by the county to buy recycling education materials.
