All three sitting Centre County commissioners are running for reelection. A pressing issue for all of them is the four-months-late state budget, which Republican incumbents say the board of commissioners’ good fiscal management has made the county well prepared for.
“And because we’re in great financial shape we’re able to weather the state budget impasse right now,” said commissioner Chris Exarchos. “We’re paying all our bills and our citizens are taken care of.”
Exarchos was first elected to the board in 1999 and returned four years ago after a break from the board. Fellow Republican Steve Dershem has been on the board for the last 12 years.
“There’s a lot of human service providers throughout the county, throughout the region that rely on our payments,” Dershem said. “And we’ve not missed a one.”
Democratic incumbent Mike Pipe is already thinking about what they'll do if the budget impasse outlasts the county’s rainy day funds. He says there’s a strong likelihood there still won’t be a budget when the commissioners’ next term starts in January.
“And that’s going to be right around the point where the county coffers are going to be running dry,” Pipe said. “So we’re really going to have to be looking at what services are we going to be able to provide? What’s that going to look like? How much interest can we take out to be able to continue to provide services.”
Pipe is running on a slate with newcomer and Democrat Mark Higgins, who’s a business turnaround expert. He goes into businesses that are bankrupt or nearly bankrupt and works to save them. Higgins says he can help with cash flow in the short term. In the long term he wants the county to invest a lot more money in economic development, which he says will create jobs.
“Other counties bring in hundreds of new jobs every year from outside companies; in Centre County it’s been zero,” Higgins said. “But that’s what happens when the competition is spending $1.2 million and you’re spending $25,000.”
Higgins says most of the money other counties spend on economic development comes from grants.
The sole Independent candidate in the race, Todd Kirsten, says he would go the opposite route. In a time when costs are increasing faster than revenues, he’d look for ways to make cuts.
“Sooner or later you’re either going to have to reduce costs or increase taxes,” Kirsten said. “And I’m always trying to reduce costs, first and foremost.”
Kirsten says that’s what he’s done in his work as a Halfmoon Township Supervisor and on the Centre Region Council of Governments. He sees his independent affiliation as an asset.
“We’re on a path maybe where certain things aren’t going to be sustainable without some new perspective and some changes,” Kirsten said.
Kirsten says he’d look for savings by considering whether open county government positions needed to be filled and trying to find savings at the county correctional facility, which is the county’s biggest line item expense.
Commissioner Pipe calls his work on reforming the criminal justice system through a reentry program one of his biggest accomplishments while in office.
Higgins says the biggest challenge for the commissioners who are elected will be regaining the trust of voters after clashes with district attorney Stacy Parks Miller. Higgins says he’s talked to about 8,000 Centre County voters since he started running in February and a lot of them feel disconnected from county government.
“They don’t understand how decisions are made,” Higgins said. “Suddenly they read something in the newspaper that doesn’t appear to make any sense whatsoever. How’d we get there? What happened? And most importantly, how do we fix it?”
Parks Miller claims an investigation the commissioners launched against her was politically motivated. But Commissioner Dershem stands by the decision to investigate, and the more than $88,000 dollars spent on legal fees as of two months ago.
“What’s the cost of not spending the money? What’s the cost of freedom? What’s the cost of knowing? What’s the cost of transparency in government?” said Dershem. “Because if things are going on inside your government that you’re not proud of or you’re not comfortable with or that you think are perhaps corrupt, what is the cost of that?”
The commissioners declined to comment in depth on a lawsuit brought against them by Parks Miller since it’s still on-going. And while Pipe is trying to get newcomer Higgins onto the board, Exarchos says the current trio works well together.
“The important thing for a board of commissioners is teamwork,” Exarchos said. “Any commissioner can promise you anything, but alone a single commissioner can’t do anything. This board of commissioners has a track record of working together well. That’s important. Now if you change that mix for some reason, it may turn out well, it may not turn out well.”
Centre County voters can cast their ballots for two of the five candidates on Tuesday.
