Dec 18, 2014 4 min read

The next-to-the-last version of the 96-page Washington County 2015 budget contained a line item that was deleted in the final document the county commissioners unanimously adopted Thursday morning. The county tax levy of 24.9 mills remains the same for its $82.06 million budget, so let’s focus on this mysterious line item.

A bequest made to the Washington County Children and Youth Services agency 25 years ago was finally depleted.

Luella Daubenspeck, who was born in Washington in 1897, died Jan. 16, 1989, in the Toole County Nursing Home in Shelby, Mont. She was 91.

A story that appeared in the Observer-Reporter in February 1990 read, “Luella Daubenspeck remembered what it was like to live in an orphanage. Little is known of her, except that at one time she was involved with the Children’s Home that was in Arden.” The orphanage was converted in the 1940s to the Washington County Home for Aged Women when a nationwide movement promoted foster care, replacing most institutions built for children whose parents were deceased or who lacked family members able to take them in.

The PA-Roots website lists Daubenspeck as a housewife, and she may have moved 1,652 miles to Shelby, which is close to the border of the Canadian province of Alberta, in the 1920s. Daubenspeck’s body, however, was returned to this area to be buried in Washington Cemetery.

Shortly after her demise, Washington County received half of her estate, $12,172. Another $250 became available as Daubenspeck’s affairs were wrapped up in Toole County. She made a similar bequest to a children’s home in Helena, Mont.

Because the Washington County Children’s Home, perhaps unknown to Daubenspeck, had ceased to exit, then-Assistant County Solicitor Katherine B. Emery was able to convince the estate’s executor that the programs run by the Washington County Children and Youth Services agency were comparable to services offered by a children’s home.

Over the years, the county commissioners have entertained many a speaker during the public comment segment of their meetings in which there was grousing about taxation.

But it’s not often that people bequeath money to Washington County government.

Asked about the $125 item listed as “estate donation,” Budget Director Roger Metcalfe began sleuthing, starting with Jason Bercini, fiscal manager for the human services department.

“That money was fully spent as of a year ago, so it lasted pretty long,” Bercini said Wednesday. Because all the money had been spent by 2014, the line item was removed from the 2015 budget.

A news article from February 1990 said the commissioners at that time planned to set up a scholarship fund for students in the CYS system pursuing a college education or vocational training. Five candidates were to be awarded $500 apiece.

The bequest was placed in a county services fund, where it was earning interest. At some point, the distribution changed from a scholarship fund to one that provided counseling services to CYS children. Bercini said Daubenspeck’s money aided children counseled by Jewish Family and Children’s Services Inc. in Pittsburgh.

“That was long before I came into the county,” said Bercini, who has worked for Washington County since 2011.

Also in the area of human services, Washington County, flush with cash from gas and oil revenues gleaned from wells in Cross Creek County Park, is contributing $500,000 to the Washington County Health Center budget of $29.8 million for 2015.

Administrator Tim Kimmel said this is the first infusion of cash from county taxpayers and/or revenue sources since he took charge of the health center in 2012. He also is Washington County’s director of human services.

The number of patients admitted to the health center, known as the census, has been “really good,” Kimmel said, averaging between 93 and 94 percent of capacity and reaching as high as 99 percent.

The health center is converting some semi-private rooms into private rooms to attract short-term rehabilitation residents, a demand that the facility has been unable to meet.

Kimmel attributed the need for tax dollars to “changing health care reimbursements” from other government sources. Scott Fergus, Washington County director of administration, said Thursday, “It’s a tough environment. There are only 22 county homes left in the state,” which has 67 counties.