MINUTES

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS                          LOWER ALLEN TOWNSHIP

                 BUDGET MEETING                                               NOVEMBER 18, 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 November 18, 2019 Budget Meeting of the Board of Commissioners to order at 7:03 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.  He announced that tonight’s meeting would cover the Fire Fund and the General Fund.  There was no response from the audience.

 

BUDGET DISCUSSION

Mr. Vernau referred to a memo he had provided to the Board showing the General Fund with a deficit of $790,860. He spoke about a list of cuts as well as a list of one-time payments. Between capital expenditures and one-time payments, the total becomes $615,685 that can be paid for with fund balance. Mr. Vernau stated that there is a fund balance of 7 million dollars. With the cuts, the deficit is at $501,470. The amount of the one-time payments exceeds the deficit. He noted that it is not desirable to pay recurring costs with fund balance and these are typically covered by taxes and fees. The amount of money spent on one-time cost items leaves $114,000. Commissioner Holtzman asked Mr. Vernau if he reviewed the cuts with the departments affected by them. He said that they were given memos listing the items being recommended for budget cuts.

 

Vice President Villone asked about the fund balances remaining at the end of 2018. Mr. Grove said it showed $7.7 million for the general fund unassigned balance going from 2018 to 2019. This is projected to be $6.9 million for 2019. Mr. Vernau said the decrease is primarily due to starting the ALS service. Mr. Grove spoke about the fund balance and said that the Township should avoid drawing down the fund balance in order to avoid raising taxes during a recession. Drawing it down also affects the Township’s bond rating. Mr. Grove stated that the Township needs to get back to following its “Plan” before more money is spent without a plan. Following a plan will keep a minimum tax burden on the residents.  Mr. Vernau stated that incremental tax increases add up to more than a one-time tax increase; the largest part of the budget is personnel. Mr. Grove suggested taking care of one fund at a time, starting with the fire fund this year, and other funds in subsequent years.

 

Commissioner Young asked why CALEA is on the list of cuts. He stated that Lower Allen Township was one of the first police agencies in the state to join CALEA. Mr. Vernau stated that it is expensive to keep up. Commissioner Young stated that if we do not stay in it, all of the accreditation designation will have to be removed from cars and anywhere else associated with CALEA. Director Holl stated that CALEA is an audit of the police work being done by the officers. Captain Crone spoke about the police department being part of regular accreditation for 179 standards instead of advanced for 400 standards. There is a major audit every four years and a spot check of about 20 files each year. Captain Crone stated that he has been attending the CALEA conference every other year and he offered to forgo the 2020 conference. He stated that CALEA is an excellent management tool and compels everyone in the police department to do a good job. Vice President Villone asked Captain Crone where he sees the department going without CALEA and he said probably the same for a year or two, but gradually more deviation in the future. It makes it harder to come up with information for a lawsuit or a similar situation.

 

The License Plate Reader (LPR) was also discussed. Since the Township has had it in use, 50 criminal cases have been solved with information provided by the LPR. Captain Crone provided a list of cases solved to the Board. The LPR has a required $5,000 maintenance fee or it cannot be used. Other police departments are interested in getting LPR cameras and would be paying to use the Lower Allen LPR server. This would provide incoming revenue.

 

Commissioner Holtzman asked about the request for a fire assistant. Mr. Vernau replied that this is due to Mr. Zorn stepping down and he feels the need for an administrative assistant could be covered by existing staff.

 

Vice President Villone asked about the impact to the budget of the two patrolmen added this year. Mr. Vernau replied that since they were hired on July 1^st this year only included half of their salary. Next year will be full salary of approximately $130,000. Captain Crone stated that not hiring an officer next year will put the Township behind the curve. Mr. Richard Bonneville, 1320 Brewster Court, and a member of the Public Safety Ad Hoc Committee added that the police department wanted to hire four officers. To spread out the cost, two were hired the first year with one each year after. He stated that we currently have a D class police department in a First Class Township due to being understaffed. He asked if there is a solution if another officer is not added in 2020. Mr. Bonneville also said that as costs go up, taxes will have to also but he feels that incremental increases are easier for taxpayers than one large increase.

 

President Black suggested that each item on the list of cuts be gone over one at a time, giving personnel the opportunity to respond to them and the Commissioners opportunity to ask questions.

 

Account		$	Justification/Reasoning	Vote
400.318	Website Design	+$5400/yr	More Township services accessible through the Township website; professional web developer	4-1
409.141	Part Time Labor	+$6,410	Full time summer help changed to part time help year round at the Municipal Building; working with Mr. Emerson	5-0
410.132	Salary – patrolman	+$62,150	Third patrolman hire in 2020	4-1
410.148	Overtime Limit	+$7,100	Limit the overtime for the evidence technician to $5,000; adjust schedule to accommodate extra time worked; Decision was to go with $6,000 instead.	5-0
410.318	CALEA fee	$3,835	Part time labor costs	5-0
410.421	CALEA conference	$1,500	2020 Conference	5-0
415.318	PA Chiefs	$1,000	State accreditation program	5-0
410.421	Supervisor Develop-ment / Unexpected Opportuni-ties	$2,000 (2019 rate)   $1,000 (2019 rate) $2,000	Management courses for police development     Courses that come along   First year patrol classes	5-0
412.148	OT for FT EMTs	$75,000	Going from 12 hour shifts to 8 hour shifts to do away with guaranteed 8 hours overtime; makes up 10% of FT EMT pay; could affect retention and recruiting; Decision to stay with 12 hour shifts	5-0
412.421	AEMT certification	$1,400	A current EMT would like to get certified; can bill for higher amount	5-0
412.421	EMS Professional Developmt	$4,000	Captain Deaven additional certification; can be used to train Lower Allen staff; amount changed to $1,000	5-0
415.312	Guardian Tracking	$3,000	Personnel recognition HR tool used for tracking by police and EMS – discipline, counseling, & citizen complaints	5-0
415.321	Mobile Data charges	$1,440	Public Safety budget; data for Public Safety vehicles, additional employee phone ($2400 total)	5-0
413.122	New Engineer salary	$20,000	Bringing on a new engineer for Mr. Flint to train, last quarter of 2020. Could be pushed to Jan 2021. Push to 2021 for $20,000 cut	5-0 to cut
413.131	PT Office Personnel	$2,000	Digitizing Plans from paper for Codes Dept; use staff on light duty and staff  – cut	5-0
410.124	Lt Salary	$2,424	Promotion from Sergeant  to Lieutenant	5-0
410.260 415.260	Rear parking lot camera	$2,700	Security cameras for police and other personnel parking areas where there aren’t any. Both areas included	5-0
410.318	LPR	$5,453	Yearly maintenance agreement	5-0
412.135	EMS Supervisor pay raise	$4,000	EMS Supervisor pay increase for quality assurance work done previously by EMS service	5-0
412.260	Adult ventilator	$4,900	Community Paramedicine grant would match cost; otherwise won’t purchase it	5-0
	Day Room Seating	$3,500	Theater seating in the EMS lounge; benefits the live-in program	5-0
415.132	Half Year PSO	$25,300	Recommended by Ad Hoc; can postpone but will come back in future; do not currently have 24/7 coverage from PSO’s  – Tabled
415-141	Part time PSO	$9,000	Recommended by Ad Hoc; can be brought on quicker – Tabled
415-242	Integrated Response	$1,200	One–time response drill conducted at Capital City Mall	5-0
415.312	First Responder study	$8,000	Consultant to determine how Township resources are being used; Ad Hoc Committee recommendation	5-0
415-422	Volunteer recruitment	$5,700	Materials and multimedia recruitment of volunteer fire fighters	3-2

 

PSO POSITION DISCUSSION

Mr. Vernau said that an argument can be made for each person proposed to be hired but people are very expensive. Before a full-time employee can be added, it has to be determined how they will be paid for. Vice President Villone asked if a part-time PSO could help the situation and provide flexibility. Director Holl stated that a job description would need to be created for the part-time PSO position and presented before the Board. Their main duties would be driving fire apparatus. Captain Wirth said that adding a seventh PSO to cover evening hours is necessary as well as a part-time PSO, due to the current volunteer fire situation. The Board questioned if scheduling changes could help. Captain Wirth feels that having the full-time PSOs work at night would be a problem because they also do property maintenance and fire inspections during the day. The PSO position would be partially funded by the Fire Fund but that has its own money issues. The Board decided to table the PSO decision pending more information from the Public Safety Department.

 

GENERAL FUND SUMMARY

In summary, not including the PSO, Mr. Vernau said $22,600 more would need to come from the fund balance to cover the additional one-time costs. There would be an additional $13,077 of one-time expenses. Then the $114,000 additional operating costs would have to be included. The deficit would be $650,000. Mr. Vernau said the current millage is 1.99. Mr. Grove stated that one million dollars is the limit that the fund balance can be drawn down. He advised looking for a longer range plan instead of just getting through next year.

 

FIRE FUND

Mr. Vernau spoke about the state of the Fire Fund. He said the Fire Fund is not funded adequately to continue to operate. This is due to a drastic increase in operating costs as well as increased costs for apparatus replacement when the prices were updated. There is an expensive piece of equipment scheduled for replacement soon. Mr. Vernau provided three different scenarios based on different percentages in the operating budget and the capital budget. Each is dependent upon transfer from the general fund as well as a tax increase to fund it. He stated that he is not in favor of transferring two million dollars from the general fund to the fire fund, but the other option is to raise taxes.

 

ADJOURNMENT

The Budget Meeting of the Board of Commissioners adjourned at 10:42 pm. The next advertised Budget meeting is December 2^nd, 2019.