It’s been a week since the deadline for a state budget passed, and public libraries, schools, and rape crisis centers are bracing for the possibility of tighter times even while the memory of last year’s 135-day budget debacle remains fresh.

A repeat is a real fear for many whose funding may be interrupted if it takes too long for Democrats and Republicans in Harrisburg to make a compromise.

“I don’t want to have to go through that again. I don’t want our team to have to go through that again,” said the CEO of Crime Victims’ Center of Chester County, Christine Zaccarelli, who had to witness several similar centers lay off workers and make cuts to stay afloat. “It was super stressful.”

The deadline was June 30, and the first week without a budget ended with no reliable public indication when political leaders would finish the job. The key players in the behind-closed-doors negotiations each gave their own version of an update when asked for one.

A spokesperson for Senate Republican Majority Leader Joe Pittman of Indiana County said the work was continuing and that the Senate — which left Harrisburg a week ago — would not return before Thursday afternoon. At the same time, there was no guarantee members would return this week at all.

Democrats who control the House and the governor’s office lambasted the departure of the Republican-led Senate after its June 30 session day.

A spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro referred to a statement he issued previously that noted Shapiro made his original budget proposal in February. “They [Senate Republicans] should be here and they should be working. We should work through this and finish the job together, and instead, they ran away,” the governor said.

A spokesperson for House Democrats referred to statements made by top Democrats last week when the Senate left town. Rep. Matt Bradford of Montgomery County, the House majority leader, said at the time it was “frustrating beyond belief” that “the Senate is throwing in the towel already.”

During the 135-day period last year when billions of dollars in state funding was withheld, schools cut programs, nonprofits furloughed workers, and counties lost millions of dollars. Those losses occurred via counties’ being forced to borrow money, and by counties losing significant interest income on reserve money they had to spend, rather than save.