Borough Budget Blowout!

Oops. It looks like even the borough tax increase is going to be bigger than expected. Expected revenues are not meeting those expectations. Now that William Hellmann CPA has moved his expertise to the school board, the borough is failing. Or does this mean that this is what we can expect from the school board budget once Billy Boy is done?

Council reopens budget talks to discuss shortfall

By DANNY ADLER
Bucks County Courier Times

Because of unexpected expenses that have arisen following approval of the 2008 budget, the council decided to reopen its spending plan Tuesday night to account for an estimated $91,098 shortfall.

In order to account for the budget's shortcomings, municipal taxes could rise even more than the $56 increase that passed in December.

The council will hold a special budget meeting at 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at borough hall, 35 Union St. Under state law, the budget must be closed by Feb. 15.

A memo from borough Manager George Mount said the borough received $37,700 less than was budgeted from a recycling performance grant.

The borough also was left with a $20,000 expense for a workers compensation audit for 2006 and 2007, and will have to pay an additional $33,398 for 2007 and 2008, Mount said.

Those expenses were not included in the 2008 budget.

Council President Nancy Sherlock said now is the time to open the budget to avoid a bigger deficit going into next year.

According to the budget that passed in December, the owner of a property assessed at the borough average of $20,000 will pay approximately $663 in property taxes in 2008.

The $5.3 million budget was a $300,000 increase over 2007. Millage increased 2.8 mills to 33.18. The cost of 1 mill translates to about $20 for the average property owner.