BOROUGH OF SLATINGTON SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES BUDGET 2019 DISCUSSION NOVEMBER 26, 2018 at 6:30 PM The Special Budget Meeting was held on Monday, November 26, 2018, in Council Room, 125 South Walnut Street, Slatington, PA. The meeting was called to order by President Stevens at 7:00 PM with the following in attendance: PRESENT ABSENT OTHERS PRESENT VISITORS Daniel Stevens Russell Hallman Mayor Niedermeyer Ed Ziegler Jason Nicholas Jason Ruff Bryon Reed Chief] Rachman Jeff Hausman Bruce Kern Joseph Wechsler Ron Hausman David Schnaars Thomas Bartholomew President Stevens requested that, as a courtesy, everyone turn off their cell phones, iPhone, and electronic devises off, or on vibrate. If you must take a call, please exit the council chambers SO as not to disrupt the meeting. President Stevens announced that all public sessions of Borough Council are electronically recorded and such recordings are maintained as part of the meeting record until the minutes are transcribed and approved by the Board, at which time the recordings shall be erased. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (Agenda and Non-Agenda items) You will have three minutes to address Council from the podium. The three minutes applies to your time at the podium. If you exit the podium, you have yielded the floor, and any time you have remaining. Ed Ziegler - Signed in and was recognized to speak. Ed is requesting that his meter at his daughter's S house be read again. President Stevens told him to call the office for this request. DISCUSSIONS: A. Finance/Budget Councilor Thomas Bartholomew 1. The council discussed the 2019 borough budget. President Stevens informed the council that some line items will be removed because of duplication or that they are no longer used. President Stevens stated the borough is getting additional rent from Turning Point. The building permit budget was reduced because the borough is no longer using CodeMaster. Salaries' percentages for mayor and council were not broken down by correct percentage at the beginning of the year. It should be 1596-3596-3596-159s. This has been corrected. President Stevens clarified the auditing services in the general 2018 YTD included all the accounting fees, not just CRY. Line 401.430 = Property Taxes will be moved to sewer. Councilor Ruff requested Seminars/Education be raised to $350.00. For the Maint.- Vigilant building at $21,000 this is for part of the roof that was not completed this year due to weather and not having 3 estimates. However, the borough did receive the insurance money for the roof. Chief Rachman stated there was a 3% increase based on the MOU for the chief of police, but the patrolman salaries were down from last year due to rescheduling. Uniform Maintenance line 410.191 will be eliminated and a partial amount will be applied to 410.238, Uniforms. IT increased due to the computers in the police station and laptops in the vehicles will have to be replaced. (Mayor Niedermeyer and Chief Rachman left the meeting at 7:40 pm.) Line 414.134, Orldinance Enf. Officer, will replace 1 line 414.310, Prof. services zoning/code. Councilor Schnaars informed the council that part of the reason the Workman's Comp amount went down is due to the discount for having the safety committee meetings. President Stevens pointed out on the Water Expenses there is a new line item for DEP fees at $7,000.00. For line 448.373, Maintenance-buildings, reflects $20,000.00 for maintenance contracts. Line 448.750, Capital Expenditures, reflects the Robert's and Autocon panel. Councilor Ruff inquired about line item 448.221, Chemicals, if this still included chlorine cost for the pool. President Stevens informed him the budget does not, but the it does include new testing that must be done by the water plant. Line item 487.161, Social Security, replaces line item 487.163, Social Security/Medicare. State Cap/Oper Grant, line item 354.000, is for the digester grant. The MS4 Project, line item 436.310, will only be in the highway budget, not sewer. The debt service has been paid off, line item 470.850. Councilor Ruff suggested to advertised in the news letter that Slatington has an agreement with Washington Township to accept residential yard waste at no cost to the residents. The council agreed to offer 2 free TVs this year for the electronics recycling, or 2 recycling events with only 1 free TV per event. The council discussed the possibility of reducing the garbage rate by $5.00. 2. Councilor Bartholomew made a motion, duly seconded by Councilor Wechsler, to approve and advertise the preliminary 2019 budget for the Borough of Slatington with the agreed upon changes, a $5.00 reduction in the garbage rate and no increase in the tax rate. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Roll Call, voting as follows: ROLL CALL AYES NAYS ABSTAIN Daniel Stevens Joseph Wechsler David Schnaars Thomas Bartholomew Jason Ruff UNFINISHED BUSINESS: None INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: None NEW BUSINESS: None COURTESY OF THE FLOOR = (Agenda Items Only - You will have two (2) minutes to address Council from the podium on Agenda Items Only.) Ed Ziegler Signed in and was recognized to speak. Ed feels that it would be a mistake to reduce the garbage rate because the next garbage contract could be higher. ADJOURNMENT Councilor Schnaars made the motion, duly seconded by Councilor Ruff, to adjourn the meeting. President Stevens declared the motion passed following a Voice Vote, All in Favor. Being no further business, President Stevens declared the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM. 2 Colleen Bresnak Assistant Borough Secretary 3