HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania will now be a little more financially prepared for a rainy day.

Gov. Tom Wolf and state Treasurer Joe Torsella announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the state's Rainy Day Fund will receive a deposit of $317 million, which is the largest transfer into the fund in almost 20 years.

A deposit of $22 million was made in 2018, and was the first the fund had seen in almost 10 years. “It was a big sign that we had begun to rehab the state's finances and that we had reversed our $2 billion deficit,” Wolf said of last year's deposit.

Torsella said the Rainy Day Fund, which will total $340 million after this year's deposit, would allow the state government to continue operations for three or four days in the event of an economic downturn or disaster. “This is really good news for anyone who cares about the financial health of Pennsylvania,” Torsella said.

He hopes bipartisan support of the Rainy Day Fund will continue yearly, and applauded House and Senate leadership as well as Wolf for their “stalwart commitment to shoring up the Rainy Day Fund.”

The existence of a sufficient Rainy Day Fund, Torsella said, is not just meant to benefit Harrisburg finances.

He said the fund is good for entities such as struggling school districts and families dependent on medical assistance who cannot absorb a tax increase.

The fund could also improve the state's overall credit rating, which would reduce “back door” taxes for all residents, Torsella said.

Wolf said when officials appealed to rating agencies for an increase in the state's credit rating, one reason to refuse the request was the lack of a sufficient emergency funding for government operations.

Torsella said the agencies were concerned by Pennsylvania's historic pattern of late budget adoptions, one-time funding gimmicks to replace an actual cash fund, and the lack of reserves and liquidity. “We are beginning to change those underlying factors,” Torsella said.

He said a study will be done to determine the amount that should remain in the Rainy Day Fund each year, and how long the fund should sustain government operations.

While most states' Rainy Day Funds amount to between 5 and 10 percent of their budgets, one state has enough socked away to maintain operations for a year.

“The median now is 23 days of operation,” Torsella said.

State officials used $755 million from the fund to compensate for a decrease in state revenue after the 2008 economic downturn. Just $60,000 remained when Wolf took office.

Torsella hopes the Rainy Day Fund will continue to see deposits each year.

“None of us has the luxury of knowing when the next economic downturn or environmental crisis or natural disaster will strike,” Torsella said, “but we can take steps to better prepare ourselves to continue serving the people of this commonwealth when it does and make sure that we don't have to cut programs or raise revenue at the worst possible time.”

Wolf agreed. “This is the second of what I hope will become many significant contributions into our Rainy Day Fund,” the governor said.

Wolf said the funds will be deposited by September.