State Rep. Bill Adolph, R-165, of Springfield, said there may be monies available for suburban counties to help reduce the costs of Pope Francis’ visit, if Gov. Tom Wolf signs an emergency funding bill Monday.
“The General Assembly has appropriated $5 million for counties in the region to access to help defray the costs of hosting this event that puts our region on the international stage,” Adolph said. “These state funds will be sitting on the governor’s desk Monday morning. All he needs to do is sign the emergency budget bill.”
Some county officials expressed concern that suburban entities would not be receiving reimbursement from the World Meeting of Families for its event and the correlated papal visit, as the city of Philadelphia is.
Adolph’s office pointed to the emergency funding bill passed by the state House 177-83 Thursday to distribute $11.2 billion in state funds, mostly for human service agencies and schools. It also includes $5 million for the expenses related to the papal visit.
This legislation is passing before the governor’s desk in the midst of an unresolved budget process that has been ongoing.
Adolph, who is also chair of the state House Appropriations Committee, said he is hopeful this passes, either in totality or in line item capacity, to allow for counties to get funding.
“This important, once in a lifetime event, should be enough for the governor to put politics aside for this one time,” he said.
