PHARSALIA – Workers at Camp Pharsalia may be able to breathe another sigh of relief this year, but the question whether that sigh will be heard next year is still unknown.

The proposal first identified by former New York State Governor George Pataki in his 2006-07 executive budget included $130 million for the demolition of the current minimum security correctional facility and construction of a 500-bed civil confinement site in its place. It estimated that the civil confinement facility, if realized, would have provided 1,000 new jobs with an annual payroll of $80 million.

With Pataki no longer in office and newly-elected Governor Eliot Spitzer composing the state’s budget, no one knew whether the camp would remain open or if the new governor would follow suit with Pataki and go ahead with the civil confinement facility plans.

Although still in the tentative stage, Spitzer’s budget includes another year of funding for Camp Pharsalia to remain up and running with a full staff in the capacity which it has always run.