Contacted Saturday for his reaction to Gov. Ed Rendell's signing of a new budget, Mark Esterbrook had a ready reply.

"It's about time," said the CEO of Community Action Program of Lancaster County.

Local social service providers like Esterbrook, and other recipients of state money, are breathing a huge sigh of relief that the 101-day budget impasse is finally over, with one administrator saying funding for his agency could turn out to be more than originally expected.

Lancaster County legislators on the Republican side of the aisle were not as pleased, citing a failure to cut additional spending in the budget as a major flaw. The lone Democrat in the county delegation, however, defended some of the spending decisions, saying they're worthy investments.

Community Action Program, which was saved from having to lay off employees by an infusion of emergency money, is owed about $5.5 million from the state, Esterbrook said.

That stopgap funding will probably last through the end of the month, he said, so CAP is hoping to get the bulk of what it's due under the new budget within a week or two. "It's all about the cash," Esterbrook said.

Still, Community Action Program of Lancaster County is one of the very few CAPs across the state that hasn't been hit by layoffs or forced to shut down, he said. "We're pretty darn blessed," Esterbrook said.

Bill Kepner, president of United Disabilities Services, said UDS prepared in advance for a budget stalemate and wasn't affected as drastically as some other agencies.

But if the impasse had lasted much longer, Kepner said, UDS would've been forced to use a line of credit or other funding sources.

"I'm certainly delighted" a budget has been signed, he said, although he called the long standoff "politics at its worst."

Kepner also said the money allocated to human services may even allow UDS to expand a bit.

"That's really good news," he said.

State Rep. Bryan Cutler, R-100th District, said he voted against the budget because "it didn't go far enough" in curbing spending.

"That's really the bottom line," he said.

Cutler said he opposed the tax increases in the budget, too, and didn't like some of the appropriations, including free postage for prisoners. "I don't think it's fair to make taxpayers pay more" while there's still waste to be cut, Cutler said.

State Sen. Lloyd Smucker, R-13th District, said he's happy for the agencies that are getting their funds. "I'm glad it's finally done," he said. The budget process has "taken far too long."

Like Cutler, he wanted to see more spending reductions, but Smucker did credit legislators for not raising the sales, income or corporate net income taxes.

And he noted that spending in the budget is actually down over last fiscal year, the first time that's happened in quite a while.

But Smucker ended up voting no. One reason, he said, is the budget legalizes table games at casinos, which he opposes. He also doesn't like the freeze on phasing out the capital stock and franchise tax, a move which Smucker said hurts businesses.

State Rep. Mike Sturla, D-96th District was the only county legislator to vote in favor of the budget. He said supporters fought back GOP efforts to gut funding on services.

The end result was a bill that saves prekindergarten and kindergarten programs, an invaluable investment in early childhood education, Sturla said.

In addition, the budget doesn't significantly slash health programs for children and senior citizens, he said.

The overall cuts it does include are painful, Sturla said, but not nearly as bad as they could've been.