MINUTES

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS                          LOWER ALLEN TOWNSHIP

                    BUDGET MEETING                                                             OCTOBER 21, 2019                            

   

The following were in ATTENDANCE:

 

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS	TOWNSHIP STAFF
H. Edward Black, President Dean W. Villone, Vice President Richard F. Schin	Thomas G. Vernau Jr., Township Manager                       Erin Trone, Assistant Township Manager Richard Grove, Finance Director
Peddrick M. Young, Sr.	David Holl, Director of Public Safety
Carolyn Holtzman	Daniel Flint, Public Works Director
	Leon Crone, Captain, Police Department
	Frank Wirth, Lower Allen Fire Captain
	Tony Deaven, EMS Captain
	Tina Thomas, Recording Secretary

 

President Black called the October 21, 2019 Budget Meeting of the Board of Commissioners to order at 7:02 pm.  He announced that Proof of Publication was available for review.  He asked if there was any business pertinent to the Township from the audience. There was none.

 

BUDGET INTRODUCTION

Mr. Vernau began tonight’s budget meeting by reminding everyone that the previous meeting covered all non-Public Safety department budgets. He said that tonight’s meeting would be about Police and EMS, and other funds if time allows. Mr. Vernau stated that there are several new items in the Public Safety Budget as a result of the Ad Hoc Committee recommendations. Some things have been taken out of the budget but can be added back into it.

 

PUBLIC SAFETY

Director Holl provided a power point presentation to the Board on the Public Safety budget. He stated that the binder that was handed out included the presentation for Fire-Rescue, Public Safety, EMS, and Police and briefly touched on their missions. Mr. Holl said that the Fire-Rescue budget would be presented to the Board at the 11/4/19 budget meeting. He spoke about using a Zero Based Budget approach in meetings with the Captains. This involved evaluating each line item in the budget to determine if it was essential. Recommendations from the Public Safety Ad Hoc Report were considered but some are based on a five-year plan. He stated they were looking just at items pertaining to the 2020 budget. The final budget was presented to the Township Manager and Finance Director who met with Mr. Holl to discuss it.

 

415 – PUBLIC SAFETY – Mr. Holl:

Account		$	Justification/Reasoning
415.131	Salary	+$850	Pay adjustment for part-time public safety planner who works 20 hours per week ($15,000 to $15,850)
415.132	Full-Time PSO’s	+$58,000	Six full-time PSOs at $237,390; add $25,746 for salary parity adjustment; add $33,390 for 7th PSO for half a year
415.???	Part-Time PSO	+$9,000	New Item: 500 hours for part-time PSOs to supplement Full-time PSOs in providing 24/7 PSO coverage
415.133	Salary Code Compliance	+$58,000	Transfer of employee from Community Development to Public Safety; not an increase
415.149	Stipend	-$31,740	Moved to LA Fire Budget
415.191	Uniform Purchase	No change	Remains at $9,550
415.192	Uniform Maintenance	No change	Remains at $1,000
415.210	Office Supplies	No change	Remains at $800
415.220	General Expenditure	No change	Remains at $1000
415.231	Gasoline	-$2,500	Reduced due to PSOs driving more for EMS and Fire than Public Safety cars
415.242	Emergency Management	+$2,500   +$1,200	Smartboard for EOC; useful for exercises and activations Add Request:  Active Attack exercise expenses for full scale Capital City Mall Integrated Response Exercise; cost shared with South-Central Task Force
415.245	Operating Supplies	+$500	Supplies for floor scrubber in apparatus bay
415.260	Minor Equipment	-$5,150   +$2,700	$1,500 for Network Attached Storage Drive for building security cameras $1,000 washer/dryer replacement Station One  Add Request:  Dual Lens Security Camera for rear parking lot by fire department
415.261	Vehicles Minor Equipment	-$3,500
415.314	Legal Services	No change	Remains at $1,000
415.312	Service Bureau	+$12,700       +$8,000	$17,100 for software subscriptions. +$10,000 for Combined GIS project with Community Development (for data input and management) Add Request:  Consulting study to review EMS and Fire Station placement; efficiency issue
415.321	Communication Expense	+$2,030	$13,090 for Mobile Data Charges (five modems in police cars) $7,866 for ReGroup LA Alerts software
415.370	Maintenance and Repair of Office Equipment	-$800	Equipment is no longer in use
415.378	Radio Maintenance	No change	Remains at $1,630
415.420	Dues, Sub & Memberships	+$500	Codes Publications Requirements for Mr. Yeagley; all others remain the same
415.421	Training	+$3,000	Tuition Reimbursement, accreditation and PennBOC Conference fees
415.422	Public Relations	+$4,000   +$1,700	Add Request:  Volunteer recruitment and retention; could fall under Fire Fund Add Request:  Support materials for Public Safety Awareness and Education; first time in budget
415.730	Mach., Equip., & Vehicles	No change	$10,000 Annual addition of a preemptive device for intersection

 

Vice  President Villone asked if there is a policy for transferring funds within a department. Mr. Grove said that a department can go over budget in line items because the whole picture is what is considered. It does not happen often and usually if it does there is a specific reason why it happened. Otherwise, if there is a concern, Mr. Grove and Mr. Vernau would meet with the Department Head. Mr. Vernau stated that in general, if you want to add a purchase to the budget, you have to give up something else. Mr. Holl said that the budget for Public Safety is looked over halfway through the year to see how expenses are coming in.

 

EMS

Mr. Holl reminded the Board that there are no staffing increases in the upcoming 2020 budget for EMS but there will be in future years. There are increases included in salaries.

 

412 – EMS – Mr. Holl:

Account		$	Justification/Reasoning
412.122	Salary, ALS	+$146,240   +$4,000	$209,600 for four paramedics (Life Team cost $296,071 but would have increased with new contract) Add Request:  Additional $1/hour pay increase for 2 paramedics with supervisory responsibilities
412.141	Salary Labor part time	+$5,000	Fair Labors Standard Act states that for 8 hours past 40 hours must be paid at an overtime rate
412.148	Overtime Full-Time	+$112,810	$148,070 for required overtime payment for ALS and EMTs
412.149	Overtime Part-Time	+$2,240	$5,000 for ALS and BLS when working more than 40 hours
412.191	Uniform Purchase	No Change	Remains at $13,650
412.192	Uniform Maintenance	No Change	Remains at $2,000
412.210	Office Supplies	No Change	Remains at $600
412.212	Forms	No Change	Remains at $1,000
412.220	General Expenditure	+$1,000	$0 budgeted in 2019
412.226	Cleaning Supplies	-$300	EMS doing their own cleaning
412.231	Gasoline	-$5,000	New ambulance is diesel
412.232	Diesel	+$5,000	New ambulance is diesel
412.243	Medical Supplies	+$36,000	$45,000 ALS supplies were seriously underfunded and vendor costs have increased
412.245	CPR Supplies	-$3,000	Changes in CPR program administration
412.246	ALS Medications	No Change	Remains at $10,000
412.260	Minor Equipment	+$6,610 +$3,500 +$4,900	$15,040 ALS equipment not purchased at start-up Add Request:  Day room seating (tiered) in lounge Add Request:  Adult Ventilator (will not be purchased if Comm Paramedicine Grant is awarded)
412.312	Services Bureau	+$2,500	$10,000 for Medical Director services; Director did not ask for increase, based on number of calls
412.318	Other Professional	-$141,790	-$148,035 Jan – June of 2019 for Life Team +$4,500 ESO patient care software +$2,700 Codestat for Quality Assurance reviews
412.321	Communication Exp	+$820	$4,240 total $960 for LifePak monitor modem connection of EKG to hospital $2,500 monthly iPad fees
412.340	Advertising and Printing	+$600	Anticipated cost increases
412.370	Maint & Repair of Office Equip	No Change	Remains at $1,300
412.374	Maint & Repair of  Equip	+$350	$19,770 total; $4,253 added for two LifePak 14 and Lucas CPR Device (annual service contract)
412.375	Maint & Repair Vehicle	No Change	Remains at $1,500
412.378	Radio Repair & Maint	No Change	Remains at $2,690
412.420	Dues, Sub, Memberships	+$1,680	$2,680 total $150 American Trauma Society $375 National Assn of Emerg Medical Physicians $50 NAEMT
412.421	Training	+$4,670     +$4,400 +$1,800 +$ 1,000	$17,950 total $6,000 tuition reimbursement ($3,000 for 2 people) $1,400 AEMT training certification Add Request:  ALS adult mannequin Add Request:  ALS peds mannequin Add Request:  ALS adult mannequin (will not be purchased if Comm Paramedicine Grant is awarded)
412.730	Machine, Equip, & Vehicles	-$83,300	$260,000 Ambulance 1-74 to be replaced; Ford F-550 chassis

 

POLICE

Mr. Holl spoke about an additional Corporal being added in the past for the Police Department when the number of squads changed. Due to funding, one Lieutenant remained, and a Sergeant position was added. The Sergeant position has become more administrative than operational and the decision is now to return to a two Lieutenant Command Structure.

 

410 – POLICE – Mr. Holl:

Account		$	Justification/Reasoning
410.124	Salaries, Lieutenants	+$4,390	$170,148 Half year with two lieutenants
410.125	Salary, Sergeant	+$4,180	$108,520; After half year promotion: $54,256 $2,424 difference at end of year after transition
410.132	Salary, Patrolmen	+$154,160 +$42,300	$1,422,760 total Add Request:  one half year for one additional patrolman ($62,150 with benefits) to maintain current level of service
410.133	Salary CSO	No Change	No additional hours requested; remains at $64,410
410.134	Crossing Guards	No Change	Remains at $25,920
410.135	Evidence Tech	+$2,110	$64,260 Total, $12,000 in overtime moved to 410.148
410.148	Overtime Evidence Tech	+$12,100	Overtime evidence tech
410.190	Personnel Services	No Change	Remains at $5,970
410.191	Uniform Purchase	+$16,350	$56,380 total -$10,000 to $8,500 for pants +$3,900 to $9,024 for different shirts +$13,000 for 9 ballistic vests (some cost reimbursement available) +$6,000 for 10 helmets +$5,000 for 10 gas masks
410.231	Gasoline	-$5,000	Anticipated decrease due to purchase of two hybrid vehicles
410.292	Uniform Maint	-$2,000	$8,000 total
410.210	Office Supplies	No Change	Remains at $3,600
410.212	Forms	No Change	Remains at $1,200
410-220	General Expenditure	+$850	$300 meeting expenses $500 EZ Pass/Transports $50 mass shredding expense
410.242	Ammunition & Targets	-$480	$8,320 total
410-245	Operating Supplies	-$500	$500 for flash memory $5,400 for 5 changed to $3,240 for 3 Tasers $2,000 changed to $500 for AR15 gun parts
410.260	Minor Equipment	-$1,030       +$2,700	$20,000 $12,300 for two WatchGuard camera systems $2,000 forensic unit changed to $1,000 Additional requested items were pushed to 2021 Add Request:  Joint Project with Building and Grounds Dept for security camera in rear parking lot
410.261	Vehicles, Minor Equip	No Change	Remains at $2,000
410.312	Service Bureau	+$1,100	$41,550 -$700 Crimewatch Dashboard replaced +$3,000 Hexagon CAD Interface; one-time fee for County upgrade; CODY not charging us for the switch
410.318	Other Professional	+$2,500 +$5,453	$2,000 to $500 Cell tower data dumps Add Request:  LPR Maintenance annual fee; cost will possibly be shared with other departments
410.321	Communication Exp	No Change	Remains at $16,820
410.370	Maint & Repair Office Equip	No Change	Remains at $5,150
410.375	Maint & Repair Vehicle	+$1,100	WatchGuard car and interview room maintenance +$100
410.378	Radio Maintenance	No Change	Remains at $5,900
410.421	Training	-$570	$44,630 total $3,000 tuition reimbursements for each of 4 officers +$3,500 3 officers to CALEA +$3,600 Krav Maga instructor recert +$700 for less lethal instructor recert
410.480	Animal Control	+$500	Increase for Nobody’s Cats fee
410.462	Lab Services	No Change	Remains at $500
410.730	Mach, Equip, Vehicles	+$3,900	$170,900 total $104,000 replace LA2 and LA7 $46,500 replace Car 16 (CSO vehicle) $10,000 Records copier $10,400 Forensics Drying Cabinet

 

Vice President Villone said that he appreciates the police department making decreases in costs where possible. He asked Mr. Grove where he thought the Police budget would come in for 2019. Mr. Grove replied that the Police Department should come in a little under budget for 2019. The Commissioners thanked Mr. Holl for his budget presentation.

 

Mr. Vernau asked the Board if they would like to continue the meeting to cover Other Funds or wait until the next meeting. They chose to wait until a future meeting. He mentioned the memo he had provided the Board on the Updated Increases to the Operating Budgets. 

 

ADJOURNMENT

The Budget Meeting of the Board of Commissioners adjourned at 9:28 pm.