Schuylkill resident asks for equality act

According to Matt Haslam, of Minersville, 36 percent of Schuylkill County’s LGBT community have experienced discrimination as a result of their sexual orientation.

Haslam, the southeastern Pennsylvania regional leader of the PA Equality Project, addressed the county commissioners during the public comment portion of the board’s meeting Wednesday. He asks the board to consider passing an “equality act” which would address issues of violence, hate crimes, discrimination and suicide.

“I’m asking for your help using the power of your office,” Haslam said. “Hate should have no place in our county.”

Haslam said that equality acts have been passed in 57 entities, including Pennsylvania counties and municipalities. Some of the municipalities that have adopted the act include Allentown, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Reading, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. The commissioners didn’t respond but asked for information from Haslam.

In other public comment, a group of county retirees asked the commissioners if they’d see a cost-of-living increase for 2020. The board didn’t give a yes or no answer but said that the county contribution to the retirement fund for 2020 will be about $472,000, with the money coming from the general fund.

Currently, the county contribution to the fund is $2,178,493. With the increase, the contribution is expected to be $2,650,000.

Commissioner Frank Staudenmeier noted that the increase amounts to ¼ of a mill and said that the county’s retirement moneys are about 95 percent funded.

“Other counties are 60 to 70 percent funded,” Staudenmeier said. “We need to consider the entire budget — if it didn’t affect our budget, we could do it.”

The county’s retirement fund as of the end of October stood at $141,673,781. On Wednesday the total was $143,413,161.