Borough $815k under budget for 2014, expenses to go up next year
By Kyle Carrozza, Staff Writer, The Times
DOWNINGTOWN – Borough Finance Director Judith Walters said that the borough anticipates an $815,000 surplus for 2014 when the borough council reviewed budgets at Wednesday night’s meeting.
Walters said that the surplus came from various hires that were budgeted but not made as well as police disability and workers compensation being paid rather than full salaries. She said that the surplus will probably be a one-off rather than a continuing trend. The borough is projected to have a total of $6,683,000 in expenditures for 2014.
Walters also said that expenditures are projected to have a $476,000 increase in 2014, though certain cuts can be made so that the increase will only be $171,000.
Borough Council reviewed the 2015 budget Wednesday night and will continue to review it until its finalization later this year. Based off of these initial numbers, residents could see a tax increase of .5 to 1.4 mils, which would mean $60-168 for the average household over the course of the year.
Council members discussed ways to cut expenditures. Councilor Nick Winkler said that the numbers made too much allowance in some areas, such as the electricity bill. Walters estimated that the bill will increase to over $63,000, though she budgeted $69,000 in the budget. Winkler said that lowering the budget allotments in multiple areas so that they more closely match predictions will allow the borough to reduce projected expenditures without making cuts.
Council President Anthony Gazzero said that he did not like the idea, as he would rather overestimate these bills than underestimate and have to come back for more money later next year.
Council members also questioned some of the money slated to go to fire department transportation. Gazzero said that the borough should look into the possibility of having an independent firm conduct a study to find out which expenses are necessary and where the borough could continue to use its current equipment.
Council also appointed the Lamb McErlane firm to handle interim solicitor duties Wednesday night. The decision came after previous solicitor Andrew Rau of Unruh, Turner, Burke & Frees turned in a letter of resignation earlier this month saying that he and the borough were going in different directions. Wednesday night’s decision will have Mark Thompson handling primary solicitor duties until the end of the year.
Borough Manager Stephen Sullins said that he met with Thompson and considered the firm based on previous projects that it has worked on with the borough. However, some councilors were dissatisfied with the amount of information they received before making the decision. Winkler said he would have liked to have seen a résumé before the meeting or at least gotten the candidate’s name.
“It’s very hard for us to make a decision today without that information,” he said.
Gazzerro agreed but said that Council should make a decision quickly as a solicitor is necessary for the borough’s everyday business.
Sullins said that he looked at résumés, but the resignation was on such short notice that he thought action should be taken as quickly as possible. He also said that he did not want to have firms gather résumés and make presentations for an interim position.
Wednesday night’s decision approved Thompson in the interim position until the end of the year. The borough will immediately put a request for quotations out to find a permanent solicitor to start in 2015.
Council also discussed the installation of lights at the Bishop Shanahan football field. They decided to approve Shanahan’s moving forward with the project but will look at conditions, such as the height of the lights, cutoff shields, and hours of operation later. The school will still have to get approval from the zoning hearing board and planning commission before getting final approval from council.
