SHAMOKIN - Expenses and revenue are balanced in a budget proposal presented Wednesday to city council.
The budget proposal, essentially a rough draft given to council members during their monthly workshop session, totals $2,593,538.93, up a modest $22,871.07 from the current year's operating budget.
Council will again seek a Northumberland County judge's permission to keep the real estate tax at 30 mills, 5 mills above the 25-mill maximum allowed under Third Class City Code.
The increase has been permitted each of the past four years under a state law protecting financially stressed municipalities.
That the proposal is balanced is a far cry from this time last year when council members began work to erase a $375,000 shortfall for the 2012 spending plan in a November 2011 budget draft.
This year's spending plan is "on target," according to City Clerk Steve Bartos.
He said Wednesday that as of Nov. 1, the city's expenses have totaled $2,422,281.54, and would likely meet the budget projection of $2,570,667.85 for 2012.
City coffers will be bolstered by year's end by more than $100,000 in anticipated earned income tax payments from Berkheimer Associates, along with other tax revenue remaining to be paid to the city by Berkheimer and city residents, he said.
Preliminary figures
Council members are expected to vote during Monday's monthly meeting on a preliminary version of the 2013 operating budget, but not before several changes will occur to the spending plan.
About $4,000 will be added toward a lease payment for a new police department vehicle, the police department clerk will see an increase in benefits when she's added as a full-time employee, and salary and benefits for a sixth street department employee will be accounted for - a department that is critically low in staffing, said councilman Michael Snyder.
Some money will be freed up with a readjustment that trims the city's allocation to the fire bureau by more than $12,000. That comes due to a miscalculation and since Independence Fire Company has forfeited its $3,500 allocation.
The city's tax revenue has dropped in recent years. In turn, city officials lowered their tax revenue projections based on three-year averages to provide a more realistic expectation - down to $1.72 million in 2013 from $1.84 million in 2012.
The city has projected increased revenue in licensing, permits and services, such as the landlord registration fees and parking meter fines, along with an increase in state-shared revenue. Additional revenue could also come with an anticipated push next year to rent out Claude Kehler Community Park.
Notable increases in spending include a proposed $9,350 salary increase for City Clerk Steve Bartos and 3-percent salary increases for police officers and public works employees.
Legislative salaries and benefits total $91,000, according to Bartos.