WILKES-BARRE -- There's more fallout after the payday fiasco in Luzerne County.
All of the county workers who were supposed to be paid last Friday have now received their checks, but now county leaders say they're not sure how they'll make ends meet through the end of the year.
Luzerne County's manager says the focus is on the cash flow coming in, not on the payroll worker who was fired.
"County administration stands behind their decision?"
"What decision?" asked Luzerne County manager Robert Lawton.
"With the employee that was terminated."
"You know we don't talk about personnel matters," Lawton said.
Luzerne County manager Robert Lawton would not answer questions about the worker fired for not approving last week's payroll for some 1,200 county workers.
Lawton would not confirm the name of that employee, but county workers say it was Jason Parrish who was let go for not approving direct deposits while on an approved day off.
Last night, Luzerne County Council members fired lots of questions at Brian Swetz, the head of county budget and finance and Parrish's boss.
Lawton says the Luzerne County Credit Union will waive overdraft or late fees, but that probably won't be the case for other banks.
"We're making inquiries with the other banking institutions and it would be nice if they cooperated, but you know, they're not so much local and hometown institutions as the credit union is and they probably don't really care," said Lawton.
Lawton says the focus should be on the county's cash flow problems. He says revenue is not coming in as expected.
Luzerne County Council is now considering a four percent property tax increase and the possibility of furloughing county workers.
"Licenses, for pistol permits, to file documents, that's all a service that is provided by a county employee. It's that group of employees that is, at this point, what's really left to take further reductions."
The Luzerne County Council has about two more weeks to try to balance the 2015 budget with property tax hikes, layoffs, or both.
Jason Parrish, the fired employee, has not returned our phone calls.
Lawton would not comment on questions about whether anyone else might be fired over the payday fiasco.
