Low-income heating funds at risk

said she is on a fixed income and has a medical condition.

Ms. Gonzalez and other speakers appeared for the two-hour hearing in the Gold Room of the Allegheny County Courthouse.

The hearing was the third and final one before the state submits its assistance plan to the federal government by Sept. 1. The other hearings were in Philadelphia and Harrisburg.

Representatives from Peoples Natural Gas, Columbia Gas and National Fuel also spoke about the importance of the program, as did social service providers who assist people applying for LIHEAP.

Last year, the minimum LIHEAP cash benefit was $200, an increase of $100 over the previous heating season.

The state is proposing a $100 minimum for this year.

The maximum crisis grant would be reduced to $400 from $500. The program would also end earlier than usual.

“The folks I see through this program are elderly, disabled, single parents and families who are trying really hard just to get by already,” said Aaron Miller, a technician for Climate Systems Heating and Cooling, who said he fixes or replaces dangerous or broken furnaces through the program.

“We’re all here today because LIHEAP saves lives,” said Andrew Shull, program administrator for weatherization and crisis at ACTION-Housing.

“This is an already austere program without the cuts.

“A single person who is over-income for LIHEAP makes $18,000 a year,” he said.

If federal cuts don’t materialize, the state will “restore benefits accordingly,” said Brian Whorl, director of the division of federal programs and program management for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, who oversaw the hearing.