City's Financial Outlook Not Rosy, But Not Bleak
By ANNE HOLLIDAY
WESB/WBRR News Director
While the City of Bradford’s financial picture isn’t bright, budget figures are right where they’re expected to be through April.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, city clerk John Peterson said that, as of the end of April, “Revenues are tracking on pace and our expenditures may actually be a little under what is budgeted currently for most line items.”
“It’s a little early to process right now,” Peterson said, “but we haven’t had anything alarming show up in wage tax figures or anything else that would make us say ‘Oh my God, it’s the end of the world.’ We got the big shock last year with timber, and we adjusted the budget accordingly this year based on the best projected revenue we could.”
On June 16 of last year, during a mid-year budget review city council work session department heads learned that timber revenues would be anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000 less than projections.
Also last year, about 800 people were out of work, meaning wage tax revenue was going to be lower than expected.
Peterson said that this year a relatively mild winter has helped keep expenses down in the public works department. Mayor Tom Riel added that all departments are trying to hold the line on spending and not wait until the end of the year to address a budget shortfall.
He specifically mentioned the police department, where Chief Chris Lucco said they haven’t had any regular shift overtime in two weeks.
Riel said council, as a group, hasn’t addressed next year’s budget yet but, having talking to “the folks down in Harrisburg,” he’s not expecting a lot of help from the state.
The state is looking at a deficit of about $1.3 billion by the end of the fiscal year next month.
“Things haven’t turned around,” Riel said. “Things probably aren’t going to be a lot better.”
“In the short run, we’re relatively well off,” said Councilman Rick Benton, adding that they worked hard last year to present a balanced budget, which is “holding true.”
“In the long run, conditions are no better,” he said, adding that health care and pension costs will be going up and “it does not appear that revenues are going to go up commensurately, so there’s going to be a huge adjustment we’re going to have to make in the city.”
Councilman Jim Evans brought up the state Department of Community and Economic Development’s Early Intervention Program.
The Early Intervention Program was established in the 2004-2005 fiscal year to help local governments in Pennsylvania address financial management and fiscal difficulties in order to avert a fiscal crisis.
“I really believe we need to move ahead with the Early Intervention Program to bring in an outside consultant to take a look at the entire operations of the city, every single department,” Evans said.
He said a consultant could advise them on “what can we do in order to right-size our expenses with the projected revenue which, we know, in the long term is not going to be good.”
“We need to explore (early intervention) and explore it soon,” Evans said.
Riel added “The city could only benefit from having an outside consultant come in and give us advice on what to do long-term.”
WESB/WBRR News Director
While the City of Bradford’s financial picture isn’t bright, budget figures are right where they’re expected to be through April.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, city clerk John Peterson said that, as of the end of April, “Revenues are tracking on pace and our expenditures may actually be a little under what is budgeted currently for most line items.”
“It’s a little early to process right now,” Peterson said, “but we haven’t had anything alarming show up in wage tax figures or anything else that would make us say ‘Oh my God, it’s the end of the world.’ We got the big shock last year with timber, and we adjusted the budget accordingly this year based on the best projected revenue we could.”
On June 16 of last year, during a mid-year budget review city council work session department heads learned that timber revenues would be anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000 less than projections.
Also last year, about 800 people were out of work, meaning wage tax revenue was going to be lower than expected.
Peterson said that this year a relatively mild winter has helped keep expenses down in the public works department. Mayor Tom Riel added that all departments are trying to hold the line on spending and not wait until the end of the year to address a budget shortfall.
He specifically mentioned the police department, where Chief Chris Lucco said they haven’t had any regular shift overtime in two weeks.
Riel said council, as a group, hasn’t addressed next year’s budget yet but, having talking to “the folks down in Harrisburg,” he’s not expecting a lot of help from the state.
The state is looking at a deficit of about $1.3 billion by the end of the fiscal year next month.
“Things haven’t turned around,” Riel said. “Things probably aren’t going to be a lot better.”
“In the short run, we’re relatively well off,” said Councilman Rick Benton, adding that they worked hard last year to present a balanced budget, which is “holding true.”
“In the long run, conditions are no better,” he said, adding that health care and pension costs will be going up and “it does not appear that revenues are going to go up commensurately, so there’s going to be a huge adjustment we’re going to have to make in the city.”
Councilman Jim Evans brought up the state Department of Community and Economic Development’s Early Intervention Program.
The Early Intervention Program was established in the 2004-2005 fiscal year to help local governments in Pennsylvania address financial management and fiscal difficulties in order to avert a fiscal crisis.
“I really believe we need to move ahead with the Early Intervention Program to bring in an outside consultant to take a look at the entire operations of the city, every single department,” Evans said.
He said a consultant could advise them on “what can we do in order to right-size our expenses with the projected revenue which, we know, in the long term is not going to be good.”
“We need to explore (early intervention) and explore it soon,” Evans said.
Riel added “The city could only benefit from having an outside consultant come in and give us advice on what to do long-term.”
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