Kittanning Borough Borrows Big From Bank
Solicitor Ty Heller shows where Kittanning Borough Council President Kim Fox should sign on the dotted line during last night’s special meeting. Council members unanimously agreed on a $250,000 tax anticipation note from NexTier Bank.
by Jonathan Weaver
For the first time in at least three years, Kittanning Borough Council borrowed money to provide an infusion of cash into their budget.
Finance Committee Chair Wilbur Stitt grew frustrated when talks shifted at the end of last night’s special meeting to the re-opened 2016 budget.
“I already have a lot of time in this – I’m not going to put any more in it,” Stitt said. “Somebody else is going to have to do it.
“If you can find the money, find it. If you can’t, I don’t know what to tell you because there isn’t any left. There’s no money – we’re at the end of the road.”
Stitt and Council President Kim Fox agreed that any budget changes cannot be had until wage negotiations continue with union officials.
“It’s concerning because we can’t put concrete numbers in until these contracts are settled,” Fox said. “There are some things I think we need to go in and tweak.
“But, it’s a pretty tight budget.”
Fox was adamantly against raising taxes to balance the funding plan.
To operate the Borough until tax revenue is received, the five council members at Thursday’s special meeting unanimously approved a $250,000 tax anticipation resolution.
“None of us wanted to borrow, but it is what it is,” Stitt said.
Solicitor Ty Heller tabulated five different proposals for the as-needed financing.
“We tried to solicit from every local bank - it would appear that the lowest cost proposal is from NexTier Bank, at 1.5 percent –with the only filing fee being $84,” Heller said.
Heller anticipated funds being available in the General Fund at the earliest next week.
“We have a good relationship with NexTier Bank,” Heller concluded.
Councilman David Croyle was concerned that individual departments didn’t submit their own funding plans for 2016.
“I think we should go back to them and say ‘What can you cut? What can you do?’ rather than us trying to figure out what to cut of them,” Croyle said.
“I didn’t get anything from anybody,” Stitt added.
Fox recommended an in-house motion for each department to produce a budget – which Croyle agreed with.
After motioning to reopen the budget last week, First-Ward Councilwoman Betsy Wilt gave a proposal to elected members on ideas to minimize expenses – including with grant funding for a new garbage truck.
Members have until the monthly meeting on February 1 to address funding issues.
However, Croyle said cash flow is not the only issue. The state has failed to provide reimbursements for money Kittanning Borough paid to contractors for the beautification project on Market Street. That has left the Borough holding the bag for the payment.
Last night, Council approved another loan from NexTier Bank for $1.2 million to bridge the gap, hoping the State reimbursement comes soon. Meanwhile, Kittanning will still be responsible to pay interest on the money at a rate of 3.13%.
Croyle voiced his concern and called upon Senator Don White and local State Representative Jeff Pyle to become involved in the solution. He also felt the County, who is administrating the grant, should share more in the responsibility of seeing the money is reimbursed.
Fox said she would contact Senator White’s office to set up a meeting.
Kittanning Councilman David Croyle voiced concerns over money not being reimbursed from the State for the revitalization Project while Concilwoman Betsy Wilt passed out recommendations for improvements to the 2016 budget.
Kittanning Borough | jweaver January 15, 2016
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