Allentown could get a $116M budget by default

Mayor’s plan could become law without approval by council.

Accusations flew. statements were made.

And when the dust settled Monday night at the end of a five-hour meeting to discuss Allentown’s proposed budget, City Council agreed to cut $40,000 from the 2019 spending plan — just .034 percent of the total $116 million package.

The divisions among City Council’s seven members over the proposal have set the stage for a default budget. That would happen if council chooses tonight to vote down Mayor Ray O’Connell’s spending plan, and then fails to take any more action before Dec. 15 — the deadline set by the city’s charter. O’Connell’s plan then becomes the 2019 official budget.

Several council members alluded Political to that outcome on Monday.

But even if council had managed to pass the dozen or so amendments that members introduced, the public would have seen little difference in their ultimate tax bills. O’Connell’s plan, introduced in November, calls for a 1.5 mill tax increase. For a property with a building assessed at $150,000 and with $20,000 in land value, the tax bill would increase from $903 to $1,139 under that plan.

An omnibus amendment that gained traction but failed to pass Monday would have backed that increase down to 1.25 mills. To accomplish that, some council members were prepared to cut overtime and contract spending by 10 percent, but the impact on the average taxpayer would have been minimal. City finance director Brent Hartzell said they would have saved about $3.50 per month or $42 per year.

“What we potentially risk here far outweighs the $3.50 our residents will receive,” Councilman Courtney Robinson argued on Monday.

Councilman Julio Guridy, who squared off against Robinson for much of Monday night, waged a social media campaign against O’Connell’s budget Tuesday morning. A 17-year veteran of council, Guridy has not ruled out a bid for mayor in 2019.

“Brace yourselves for a possible 27% property tax increase in 2019,” he wrote on Facebook. “Some of us tried to soften the blow of this unconscionable tax increase at one time. Even the mayor asked us to cut where we could, but some in council wouldn’t even cut a financial error of over $221,000 in the proposed budget.”

Guridy was one of three council members who backed most of the board’s 12 proposed amendments. Only one amendment passed. Council successfully blocked the city from making an aquatics manager full time at a savings of about $40,000. Collectively, the rejected or pulled amendments, many of which were defeated soundly, would not have cut much more.

If all of the amendments had passed, including one that would have added officers to the city’s Solid Waste Education and Enforcement Program to address trash and other quality of life issues, about $350,000 could have been cut.

The biggest savings to taxpayers in 2019 will come via a book-sized budget memo introduced by the administration last weekend. The memo, which was approved by council unanimously Monday and will be included in the default budget, accounts for a $180,000 error in tax withholding mistakenly included in the 2019 plan twice. Another $41,000 in small line item changes, many of which were found by Controller Jeff Glazier, were also included. The savings from the memo total $221,000.

Glazier, who used to serve on council, warned the board Monday that further cuts would alter services offered to the public. The majority of the city’s contract service money is tied up in several key contracts such as the school crossing guards, the city’s fleet maintenance and various IT agreements like the city’s use of Microsoft, he said. Finding cuts beyond those vital agreements would mean cutting into things like referees for the winter recreation leagues, he said.

“There are a lot of little victories between department managers and administrators to wring out $200,000, and we were able to do that without impeding or hobbling the basic mission we’re here to do,” Glazier said.

The 2019 budget proposal is the first for O’Connell, who took office in March following the resignation of Mayor Ed Pawlowski. The first-year mayor, who will face an early reelection next year, was all but forced to propose some form of tax increase after city financial advisers warned that long-term borrowing was not an option, cash reserves were drained and the city’s bond rating was reduced due to ongoing structural deficits. O’Connell sat on council for the previous eight years as that situation developed.

O’Connell could have asked for more than a 1.5 mill increase and encouraged council to scale it back, creating the perception that residents are saving money and allowing the board to claim a political victory. But he chose instead to approach council with a spending plan that he considered essential, making the argument to residents that their money was not being wasted.

“I feel very comfortable that we’re doing the right thing for the residents of Allentown,” he said “No one ever does like a tax increase, but to keep the services, to keep the quality of life issues at the forefront without reducing any services is our goal.”

eopilo@mcall.com Twitter @emilyopilo 610-820-6522