State Treasury Expediting $3.3B In Delayed Payments; Vendors, Check Status Of Invoices

The State Treasurer’s Office has received payment requests from the governor’s Office of the Budget for approximately 16,400 delayed payments totaling nearly $3.3 billion to school districts, counties and human service organizations and expects the funds to be delivered by the middle of next week.

Treasury is also working with the Office of the Budget to process the remaining delayed payments and expects the entire backlog will be sent out within approximately two weeks.

“The budget impasse has caused a lot of financial hardship throughout the state, and Treasury is committed to getting these much-needed state payments out the door as quickly as possible,” said Pennsylvania Treasurer Timothy Reese.

Normally, once Treasury receives a payment request it requires approximately ten business days to conduct a mandated legal and accuracy review, process the payment and send it electronically or by mail. However to expedite delivery, Treasury has worked with the Office of the Budget during the impasse to identify and pre-audit thousands of payments.

Instead of the usual ten business days, pre-audited payments will be delivered by next week and include education payments (basic education, Head Start, public libraries, and special education); public welfare payments (child care, homeless assistance and some health services); veterans’ payments; and critical lease and utility payments.

Treasury anticipates receiving payment requests for the remainder of delayed payments from the Office of the Budget this week, and staff will work over the holiday weekend to review and process these payments.

The entire backlog of payments should be sent out within two weeks of Treasury receiving the payment requests.

To obtain a status of outstanding FY 2015-16 invoices submitted to the Commonwealth, vendors can contact the Office of the Budget utilizing any of the following methods:

— Commonwealth vendors can check the status of invoices submitted for payment using the payment lookup function found on the Pennsylvania’s Office of the Budget website.

— Commonwealth vendors can also inquire on the status of invoices submitted for payment by emailing the Commonwealth’s Payables Services Call Center at: RA-PSCPAYMENTINQUIRE@PA.GOV or by calling toll free at 877-435-7363 or locally at 717-346-2676. The Payables Services Call Center is open Monday through Friday 8 am – 4:30 pm EST.