Council OKs $50K for fire company
Two weeks after approving a donation to the North Penn Volunteer Fire Company for a station renovation, North Wales now knows where that donation will come from.
Council voted unanimously on May 11 to use $50,000 in interest earnings on various reserve funds as their contribution to the fire company.
“They were very appreciative, and completely understand our position, as far as our finances,” said borough Manager Christine Hart.
Starting last year, the fire company has shown plans for the next phase of a multi-year renovation project to expand their station at 141 S. Main Street, into an adjacent former mill building at 137 S. Main. In early April fire company officials showed the latest version of their plans and asked the borough for help matching a $1 million state grant secured in December 2020, requesting $150,000 from the borough to go alongside $400,000 already committed by Lower Gwynedd Township. Two weeks later, in mid-April, council voted to allocate $50,000 instead of the requested $150,000 citing tight borough budgets, directing the manager to give options as to the funding source, and on May 11 Hart outlined where she felt the funds should come from.
“It was mentioned that council did not want this coming from the capital improvement fund, and/or the debt service fund, from the money we just recently borrowed,” Hart said.
Last summer council authorized a $2 million loan meant to fund work on infrastructure projects around town, along with upgrades spelled out in the “North Wales 2040” comprehensive plan. That money is separate from, and in addition to, roughly $2 million already held in reserves, which the manager said she keeps invested in various short-term funds to earn as much interest as possible.
As she spoke, the manager showed council a spreadsheet tracking those investments
outstanding, listing a total of eight accounts with various local vendors, all for roughly $250,000 plus interest earnings. Because those investments are shopped and staggered throughout the year, three have recently come due in late April or early May, and council could choose to invest only the $250,000 base amount and not the additional interest earnings of roughly $25,700 on one account, $16,810 on a second and $13,600 on a third.
“It totals $56,281. We would reinvest the base of that, the $250,000, for 12 months going forward, and put that $56,000 into our ‘interest earned’ column, which would be booked as revenue, and then it would be expensed as the donation,” Hart said.
The remaining $6,200 could then be used on other capital projects or expenses elsewhere in the borough, Hart said, adding that her recommendation would be for a computer upgrade for borough staff and/or “some things in borough hall.”
“This is the best way that we can do it, that’s not going to make a dent into the current budget,” she said.
Councilman Sherwin Collins asked if the borough would have to pay any additional taxes on that interest revenue, and Hart said they would not. Councilman Jim Cherry asked if the fire company had had any response to council’s talks over the past two months on the donation amount, and Hart said she’d been in contact with fire company leadership since.
Council President Jim Sando added that he had also been in communication with fire company leadership, who “understood the position the borough took, and why,” and councilwoman Wendy McClure said she had done the same.
Eight council members then voted in favor of approving the expenditure as recommended by the manager, with councilman Mark Tarlecki — who voted against the allocation in April — casting the lone vote against. Borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on May 25; for more information visit www.NorthWalesBorough.org.