BOROUGH OF HATBORO

BUDGET WORKSHOP MEETING

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2023.

PRESENT:

President Bollendorf, Vice President Stockton, Councilwomen McMenamin, Reichner, Shay, Councilman Myers, Borough Manager Hegele, Assistant Secretary DeRenzis, Fire Marshal Valesky, Deputy Chief Ruegg, Treasurer Smith, Fire Company President Ide, Fire Company Vice President Brown, & Librarian Law

ABSENT:

Councilwoman Jacobus & Mayor Schultz were absent.

CALL TO ORDER:

President Bollendorf called the budget workshop to order at 6:00 PM.

President Bollendorf stated that the budget as presented tonight by the Manager and Department Heads is not balanced yet, this is everything that has been requested and will be reviewed by Council this evening. He indicated that the Borough has contractual items that cannot change, and the final number does not reflect raises for the non-contractual staff, which includes the Borough Hall staff. It was agreed after discussion that a 3% raise would be added to line items for wages for non-contractual staff before starting to cut in other line items to balance the budget.

Vice President Stockton stated that all the numbers in the budget are conservative estimates. The first look at the budget indicates a $628,000 deficit. He stated that tonight Council would be looking at a tax increase, missing revenue, and areas where they could ask staff to save money.

Council and staff reviewed the following with the public in attendance.

1. Changes to income. It appears that some of the revenue projected did not come in due to the slow return from covid.
2. Discussion about increased income in certain line items; mechanical devices, contractor licenses and local fines.
3. Discussion about District Court leaving, and costs associated with this space as well as loss of revenue. The Borough Manager indicated she is having discussions with Victorian Village and since it is a potential real estate matter, more information would be made public when available. Borough Manager Hegele stated that there is the possibility of selling this space back to Victorian Village since it is of no use to the Borough.

The Fire Company was in attendance to review and answer questions regarding their budget. Manager Hegele stated that the Fire Company has consistently asked for the same amount of funding for all the years she has been employed by the Borough and she cannot recall ever having a millage increase. Manager Hegele explained that prior Council’s set up payment of certain expenses from the fire tax including their audit, insurances for property, vehicles & workers comp as well as fire hydrant rental from the fire tax. When these payments are made it shorts the fire company from their operational expenses. President Ide explained when that is short, it decreases the amount of money they can save for larger purchases, i.e., a fire truck. Manager Hegele stated the only change she observed this year to their budget included a stipend program for their members. Manager Hegele reminded everyone in the audience we have an all-volunteer fire company which saves the Borough a lot of money. Council discussed this and decided it was time for a millage increase so they could continue to offer the service of a volunteer fire company as well as helping with the stipend program which will help to attract and retain members. Staff was going to look at millage and assessment and factor this into the budget for preliminary adoption. The fire company members had to leave the meeting to attend drill.

Resident Gary Blickley asked if the Borough does projections. Vice President Stockton stated the budget is comprised of year-to-date expenditures as well as projections.

Library Director Christine Law and Library President Todd A ‘Harrah reviewed their budget request for 2024. Some of the numbers did not match. Manager Hegele stated that it is both Library representatives’ first time doing the budget as well as making it confusing is the fact that they do not operate on the calendar year. Vice President Stockton assisted with adjustments and reminded the library that they receive tax money based off millage approved by the voters.

Resident Merrie Keller questioned the library costs vs. the fire company. Vice President Stockton stated the library has more costs as they have paid staff and similar to a business operating several days a week vs. the volunteer fire company, not comparable.

Manager Hegele reminded everyone that the Borough always funded the library, it was carried under the general fund prior to the voters approving a millage under a tax referendum.

Director Law stated in a year the library has moved in a positive direction, has a balanced budget, a forensic audit of library finances was completed, they had some unexpected flood losses and now has very solid management. Manager Hegele confirmed that she attended the shareholders meeting the night before this meeting and the library is in sound shape with excellent leadership. It was reassuring as a taxpayer and Borough Manager.

Assistant Borough Secretary DeRenzis prepared a trash presentation to help to educate residents on actual costs for trash/recycling collection. Councilwoman McMenamin reviewed the presentation. There were many questions regarding this. Last year fees were raised for

non-owner occupied and commercial collection. It was learned after the increase that Council needed to revisit the current ordinance and fee schedule structure, which they announced at this meeting was being done. The presentation was done to accurately reflect the true costs of collecting trash and recycling. Council is working with staff on creating a third fee structure for proper invoicing. It was learned that commercial businesses place more trash and recycling in many instances vs. residential, but some residential were paying just as much. The new fee structure will better position the Borough to properly charge going forward. The presentation can be found on the Borough website for review. The discussion continued over once a week vs. twice a week collection and the sustainability of the Borough to continue to offer this service. All agreed that a survey should be sent out in 2024 to begin these discussions and we need to focus on educating the public on sustainability.

Council continued with a review of various fees charged, including zoning hearing board fees, fire marshal fees, saldo fees and licensing fees. Staff is working on updates to the fee schedule which Manager Hegele stated was in line with other municipalities and Borough’s for council consideration in December.

Vice President Stockton stated that some of our costs monthly including our phone bills for Nextiva and IT services need to be reviewed and he asked for staff to work on an RFP for IT services for 2025. Manager Hegele explained that our computer lease is up in early 2024 and staff is already working with Integra on this project, it may not be prudent to shop now as it will probably cost more since work has already begun and the purchase of our computers is done Borough wide, not by individual department.

There was a discussion regarding costs for the tax collector that the Borough does not need to fund. Some items were removed from the budget and the tax collector would be notified once the budget is adopted.

Deputy Chief Ruegg presented the Police Budget, which is not changed much from previous years. He explained that staff costs are lower due to the impending retirements of two senior officers who will be replaced by new officers who will not cost as much. Council adjusted the police budget to reflect a member of the department out on disability. Councilwoman McMenamin stated that the Borough is working on saving money yearly to account for one-time personnel costs.

President Bollendorf stated that Council needed to discuss a millage for Second Alarmers. He stated that the Borough provides building space so the Alarmers can respond to calls in Hatboro, but like everything else the cost to provide ambulance services is going up. There was a discussion regarding the service insurance regulations concerning payments. It was learned that insurance carriers are paying the insured for this service when used but some insureds are not paying this back to SARS. Both Vice President Stockton and Councilwoman McMenamin would like to see SARS utilize a collection firm to get these funds back and not the taxpayers of Hatboro pay. Council did instruct staff to look at a small mileage and what that would net SARS based on the current mileage. Rough figures reflect a possible cost of $7.00 per year to Hatboro taxpayers. Most everyone in the audience and council felt this was a good figure for taxpayers and good for SARS. That information will be presented at the November meeting when Council does preliminary adoption of the 2024 operating budget.

Resident Gary Blickley questioned the 2023 deficit and now 2024 surplus and asked if this would be adjusted. Vice President Stockton stated that some one-time costs caused a deficit. Staff is working to collect all outstanding grant monies which have been slow to come in, one example was the fire house grant, that was included in the budget as anticipated revenue coming back in, but unfortunately due to issues beyond the Borough’s control, that did not happen in 2023. Staff continue to work diligently to get this money back and anticipate, based on things happening, that the money will be received in 2024.

Manager Hegele reviewed the next steps in the budget approval process. The preliminary 2024 budget would be on the agenda at the November Council meeting. The ten-day inspection period would be advertised to begin on November 30th (delayed due to the move back to Loller), final adoption, tax ordinance and fee schedule resolution would all be on the December 18th council agenda for approval. After this is done, the Manager’s budget message would be attached and available for the public. There was a discussion at the beginning of the meeting as to why the Borough does not publish the full budget on the website. Due to increased cyber security issues and municipalities and school districts websites being hacked and taken over and the ransom requested was directly from the budget online. The Borough is being proactive and trying to make sure we are not victims of cyber ransom.

ADJOURNMENT: President Bollendorf adjourned the 2024 Borough Operating Budget workshop at 10:15 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Diane C. Hegele, CBO

Borough Manager/Secretary

Transcribed by Diane C. Hegele