Saturday, October 25, 2008 6:22 AM EDT
By Evan Brandt
POTTSTOWN — Tax-conscious residents who had planned to attend the first presentation of the borough's 2009 budget, originally planned for Tuesday, will have to cool their heels for two more weeks.Apparently the budget, which a consultant said last week is among the most unnecessarily complicated she has ever seen, remains too complicated to be ready for its scheduled first airing.Borough Manager Ray Lopez announced Oct. 22 that the first public presentation of the budget will not occur until Nov. 10, which is borough council's regularly scheduled public meeting.
= 1223874000) && (nAdsysTime
');
-->
The release announcing the change noted that borough staff and Timothea Kirchner, the consultant with the firm Financial Solutions "have been working round the clock to assure the numbers they present for the 2009 budget are a true reflection of the actual costs of services to the citizens of the borough."Noting that "the actual process of putting the budget together did not begin until mid-September, due to the fact that the finance director left the borough in late August," Lopez wrote that "other data, critical to the completion of the budget, such as health care costs and insurance costs, are only coming in this week."Borough council was warned by Kirchner last week that this year's budget would not be pretty.With a 2008 budget already laboring under the weight of a projected $200,000 shortfall and the discovery of an unexpected workers compensation insurance bill for another $125,000, Kirchner told council that "I am very concerned that expenses will outpace revenues."Kirchner also told council that its budget is unnecessarily complicated and that this year she and the staff would attempt to simplify it."We have committed to getting this budget right and to improving the budget process," Council Vice President Greg Berry, who chairs council's finance committee, said in the release."It isn't about hurrying to get the budget out. It's about getting it right," Berry said. "We should take the time to do that while fulfilling our obligation with regard to the required time for public discussion of this budget. Delaying until Nov. 10 accomplishes both goals."Following Kirchner's budget presentation last week, Berry said that with the exception of a tax increase, "everything is on the table, including heads."
No comments:
Post a Comment