Council still wrestling with tax hike

Decisions regarding potential budget cuts have not been made; another meeting has been set for Dec. 18

POTTSTOWN » Council members floated and analyzed various suggestions Monday for cutting spending in the proposed $54.7 million, but made no decisions, meaning the pending tax hike remains at 18.61 percent.

A special budget workshop meeting has been scheduled for Monday, Dec. 18 at 5:30 p.m. where some of the ideas explored Monday night will be on the table for discussion.

The first set of those ideas was offered at the Dec. 6 meeting by Vice President Sheryl Miller, and were reviewed Monday.

Each suggestion — which included eliminating a new assistant public works director position; the assistant borough manager position; one of two assistants to the human relations director; as well as clerk positions in the finance and licensing and inspections departments — slightly lowered the tax hike.

Taken together, the tax hike would drop to 13.39 percent, which translates into a tax increase of $117.66 for a property assessed at $80,000, the borough median — a $44 per year savings for the median property owner over the current proposal.

But there would be sacrifices in services said the five department heads who, at the invitation of Borough Manager Mark Flanders, each spoke to council about the suggestions.

Windows to take tax and utility payments would only be open certain hours, said Finance Director Janice Lee.

So too would windows in licens-

ing and inspections where developers and contractors submit plans and get permits to make improvements in town, and rental inspections would decrease, said Keith Place, who heads that department.

Eliminating the assistant borough manager position would create the same problem the borough had before, when former borough manager Jason Bobst threatened to quit unless an assistant was hired, said Council President Dan Weand.

Assistant Borough Manager Justin Keller, who was named interim borough manager by a 5-2 vote the same night, said grants which add hundreds of thousands of dollars to efforts to improve infrastructure and parks with little or no cost to local taxpayers would be lost by eliminating the assistant borough manager position and reducing the grants administrator position.

Public Works Director Doug Yerger said it would take longer to answer calls for service for leaking water lines or clogged sewer lines, and Human Resources Director Sandy Chieffo said the borough would be more likely to go out of compliance with government rules if she loses one of her assistants.

But Miller and councilmen Dennis Arms and Joe Kirkland seemed unconvinced. “People in the private sector get fired every day, we’ve all been there, and those who are left fill in,” Kirkland said. “We’re not talking about very many people here.”

Miller said other municipalities operate with fewer employees and more efficiently, to which Flanders responded “that’s your interpretation.”

Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. pointed out that because this is an election year, the law allows the next council — which will have two new members — to re-open the budget after Jan. 1 and to make changes up until Feb. 15.

That would create more time for the “task force” that Kirkland and Councilwoman Rita Paez both endorsed to try to find other ways to lower costs — including making some of the positions under consideration for elimination part-time.

Weand — who continued to insist Wednesday, despite ample evidence to the contrary, that the problem of a loss in property assessment values could not have been predicted — said he would call council back for a meeting on New Year’s Eve if necessary to improve the budget.

Flanders also injected a new development into those deliberations. He said he was contacted by Hill School Headmaster Zach Lehman, who informed him that in 2018 and 2019 the school would donate $100,000 toward the purchase of new police cars.

No members of council have suggested any cuts to the police department — the single largest and most expensive portion of the general fund — except for the fact that the department will be four years behind its rotation for new police cars in 2018.

There were few public comments at Monday’s meeting.

Bruce Madara thanked council for working to hard to reduce the tax hike, but chided staff for not returning his phone calls.

Don Read, told council that “an 18 percent tax hike is a failure of leadership and planning.”

He added, “the best way to ensure more property assessment challenges is to raise taxes 18 percent. Someone has to step up and show some leadership on this.”

“An 18 percent tax hike is a failure of leadership and planning.” Don Read, public speaker