Andy Close
WARREN, Pa. – Warren County will stay a sixth class county despite a marked decline in population.
The classes, based on population, help determine how a county will be governed, and go from first to eighth class, with eighth being the smallest in population.
Warren County Solicitor Nathaniel Schmidt explained that the county received a letter from Gov. Tom Wolf in October of 2021 stating that Warren County is eligible to drop back to seventh class based on 2020 census results.
Sixth class counties are defined as those with a population between 45,000 and 90,000 or those between 35,000-45,000 that choose to remain in sixth class status.
Warren County falls into the latter, with a population of 38,587 at the last census.
“I spoke with different department heads that may be affected by this,” Schmidt said. “There are not any serious material changes that would be implemented by going from sixth to seventh class. Most of the changes occur between seventh and eighth.
“The only possibility of change that was taken into consideration was discussions with the planning department. They were concerned that a decrease in classification might affect eligibility or funding at some point in time. I didn’t run into any concrete examples of that.”
Added Schmidt: “My recommendation is to remain a sixth class county.”
Commissioner Ben Kafferlin agreed.
“I can’t think of any reason to reclassify,” he said
