Council cannot shirk responsibility for tough decisions in tough times.

Pottstown Mercury - Opinion

The budget decisions facing Pottstown Borough Council this year may not represent the most difficult choices ever undertaken, but they are becoming the most difficult to accomplish.Council has been grappling for two months with the news that jobs and services might have to be cut to balance the 2009 budget, and even at that, the borough could still face a double-digit tax increase.But despite the handwriting being on the wall for some time, council members are avoiding the hard decisions. While department heads and consultant and acting financial director Timothea Kirchner crunch numbers and present the financial picture for consideration, some council members sit silent.Last Monday, council did manage to arrive at some of the difficult budget decisions, including a split vote to lay off 12 employees. But, on two other significant and highly controversial items -— the elimination of the economic development director's position and a 25 percent cut in funding to the borough's four fire companies — motions failed for lack of a second.
Without a second, there was no opportunity for council members to explain their reasons for their decision —because they didn't make any, much to the chagrin of Council President David Garner. Garner said council's unwillingness to make decisions will translate to the second double-digit tax hike in three years."Taxes were raised 25 percent two years ago and 9 percent last year. We need to do better," Garner said. "The reality is revenues in the borough are declining, and they are declining because the taxes keep going up."Garner is not the only one getting frustrated.Borough employees have come to the administration and to council with ideas on ways to save money, and on Monday, the chairperson of the Pottstown unit of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees said union members were offering a wage freeze in the current contract.Unit chairperson Karen Lewandowski said the wage freeze would save the borough about $111,648. But no action followed.Last week, Lewandowski told council that as much as $300,000 in additional revenue could be obtained by charging a 10 percent late fee to septic haulers who are behind on their payments for taking septage to the sewer plant for treatment.Lewandowski and others have complained that a number of suggestions on ways to reduce costs have been ignored.Garner's encouragement to his fellow council members to bring to a vote the tough decisions is laudable.But, council does not appear to be willing to reciprocate or work with the union on ideas that could save money. Is the unwillingness because the ideas are wrong, or because council members perceive them as coming from the wrong corner?This is not a budget where anyone is going to come away satisfied. The borough's eroding tax base has come up against its pressing needs, and the collision poses considerable challenge.But, these are the times when leaders must step up to take more responsibility, not less. The call to keep money in the budget for economic development must be balanced against the reality that the borough's tax base is its worst enemy. The emotional clamor to protect fire and police services must be weighed against the pain of higher taxes in a deteriorating economy.Council must respond.The town's elected leaders can not pretend that by putting off votes a miracle will happen, that by ignoring the alarm bells, the fire will go out by itself. The silence and lack of action is disturbing; the unwillingness to work side by side with employees to find answers is destructive.If no other changes are made, the budget as it stands now would drive a 19 percent tax increase in 2009. Garner and others are urging council members to prevent the downward economic spiral that such a hike might spark.Time is running out.

http://www.pottsmerc.com/articles/2008/12/14/opinion/srv0000004269112.txt