HARRISBURG — A new state agency for drug and alcohol issues has been put on hold by the Corbett administration because of unexpectedly high costs to set it up and a need for further studies.

Gov. Tom Corbett has not announced his choice for secretary of the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, which was created by a law that was passed last year and took effect July 1. It would be the first new Cabinet-level department in Pennsylvania since 1995.

The Health Department, which currently performs many of the new department’s projected functions, has been making plans to get the new department up and running.

“What we have to do first (is) to make sure we have all the pieces in place to make this happen,” said Health Department spokeswoman Christine Cronkright. “Do we have enough in the budget to fully fund the department?”

Corbett spokeswoman Kirsten Page said a preliminary review indicated the costs were more than had been anticipated. Declining tax revenues and other factors created a multibillion-dollar problem in passage of the current year’s budget, and the forecast for 2012-13 does not appear any better.

“At a time when all Pennsylvania citizens are doing more with less, it is an odd time to create more bureaucracy,” Page said.

Bill Patton, a spokesman for the House Democrats, said the department was designed to bypass bureaucracy, not create more.

“No administration gets to decide which laws it will follow and which it will ignore,” Patton said. “The executive branch is constitutionally obligated to execute the act.”