HARRISBURG — The county tourism and convention bureau president will hear from the governor's office in the near future regarding a reported cut to Moraine State Park's funding in the proposed 2019-20 state budget.

While Jack Cohen's letter to the editor in Monday's Butler Eagle laments the almost 30 percent cut in state funding for the park's operating budget, Gov. Tom Wolf's press secretary, J.J. Abbott, said the opposite is true.

After reading the Eagle's article Tuesday regarding Cohen's concerns, Abbott contacted the newspaper.

He said the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which is the department that funds state parks, would receive more than $19 million in additional funding in Wolf's proposed 2019-20 budget.

Abbott added the budget also proposes almost $8 million in increased funds for state park operations.

“I wanted to clear up any confusion,” he said in an email.

Abbott said he would inquire as to what the overall funding increase for state park operations would mean for individual parks.

“But I don't believe we ever said or indicated any of them would be cut,” Abbott said. “Mr. Cohen seems to be referring to the 30 percent reduction from the general fund, which is made up from other sources and overall dedicates more funding to DCNR.”

He said officials from Wolf's office will contact Cohen to “ensure he understands how the funding proposal works.”

Cohen, on the other hand, said Tuesday night that he has not yet heard from the governor's office. Hearing about Abbott's response to his letter, Cohen said he hopes there is more money in the budget.

“Maybe there's another source of funding I'm not aware of,” Cohen said. “If that's the case, that's great because we've got a beautiful park and there are a lot of things we can do with more dollars.”

Cohen said on Monday that he was in the initial stages of forming a group of county officials to travel to Harrisburg to advocate for Moraine, which is the third-largest state park in Pennsylvania.

In his email, Abbott seemed to agree with Cohen that state parks are an economic boon to the state.

Abbott said the proposed budget anticipates the passage of the Governor's Restore Pennsylvania infrastructure plan, which will provide significant additional funding to enable new environmental projects and new recreational opportunities across the state, including infrastructure and maintenance in state parks and funding for new hiking, biking and ATV trail projects.

“Restore Pennsylvania is a stable plan to fund infrastructure projects and is a smarter way to invest in the commonwealth's future,” Abbott said.