PALMER TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

AUGUST 27, 2009

SPECIAL BUSINESS MEETING

The Palmer Township Board of Supervisors held a special meeting at 12 p.m. on August 27, 2009 in the municipal building conference room. The following Board members were in attendance: Dave Colver, Robert Lammi, Robert Smith and Mike Mitchell. Ann-Marie Panella was expected to arrive at a later time. Township Manager Bob Anckaitis was also in attendance. Chris Baxter from the Morning Call represented the news media. Chairman Colver convened the meeting and led those present in the Pledge to the Flag.

2. APPROVAL OF DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS – AUGUST 25, 2009

On motion by Mitchell, seconded by Smith, and agreed by four, the Board approved the disbursement of funds for August 25, 2009. Ann-Marie Panella was absent for the vote.

3. GREENWOOD AVENUE BID AWARDS

Colver said we received bids from five companies and The Charles Chrin Companies had the lowest bids. Bid 1 includes paving costs fixed for the project and Bid 2 is subject to adjustment based on the asphalt index. Colver said it is a difference of $21,000 and he feels more comfortable going with the fixed option. The four Board members in attendance agreed. Panella joined the meeting and was brought up to speed on the bids discussed.

On motion by Smith, seconded by Lammi, and agreed by all, the bid was awarded to low bidder, The Charles Chrin Companies, Inc. in the amount of $1,296,690, conditioned upon supplying sufficient bonding and insurance documents to the satisfaction of the township solicitor and meeting all Penndot requirements related to the HOP permit process.

4. BUDGET MEETINGS WITH DEPARTMENT HEADS

EARNED INCOME TAX

Brenda DeLong, Earned Income Tax Collector, projected we should make budget in 2009. DeLong said in past years it has increased approximately $200,000 but she doesn’t anticipate that happening again in 2010 since she doesn’t foresee many new homes being built in the township or any new high paying jobs. DeLong said she plans to budget what we have for 2009 for 2010.

REAL ESTATE TAX

Doreen Umholtz, Real Estate Tax Collector, said she is over what she projected for the end of August on the real estate tax and she anticipates another $35,000 through the end of December. Umholtz said the balance due on her books is $134,952 but you have to remember there is a 99% collection rate. Umholtz said the prior years taxes collected are lower due to the housing slump. Lammi asked if Porsche and Majestic were on the tax rolls this year. Umholtz said Majestic is for this year but she hasn’t received Porsche yet. Lammi said he’s concerned with the number of requests for re-assessments. Umholtz said she projects another $90,000 coming in by year end for the LST tax which will have us hit our target.

Anckaitis told the Board members he should have started the meeting explaining the direction he gave the department heads this year in preparing their budgets. It was to keep the budget at the minimum, not to include anything that they really didn’t need or could still do without.

PUBLIC SERVICES

Tom Adams, Scott Kistler and Bobby VanHorn were present from the roads and parks department. Adams said he projects being $35,000 under budget for public services and approximately $20,000 under budget in the building and grounds line items. Adams said on the solid waste and recycling line items he deals with, some are over and some are under, but he feels it should be a wash.

Kistler said for budget numbers 428 through 439 he will be giving back $164,000 through all those line items in 2009. For 2010 he will be budgeting $150,000 less than was budgeted in 2009. Kistler said the total swing is about $300,000. Kistler said parks is a bit tighter and will bring back about $36,000 for 2009. In 2010 we expect about a $12,000 to $14,000 increase over the 2009 numbers. Adams said the general recreation budget, for his portion, will be a little over the 2009 budgeted numbers. He expects a slight increase in 2010. Kistler said they want to maintain the two additional summer employees and add one more in 2010. Adams said the library account should be slightly under the 2009 budgeted numbers and he sees it remaining about the same in 2010.

Adams said as far as projected revenue numbers he deals with, they are down about $3,000 dollars for 2009. He believes they will be down slightly in 2010 also.

Lammi asked if the recycling grant funds shouldn’t have its own line item under revenue - under a 364 account, instead of 363-520. Anckaitis said he will have to check the Pennsylvania Chart of Accounts.

POLICE DEPARTMENT

Chief Bruce Fretz said overall everything seems to be falling in line as of August. We are running close to what we did last year and anticipate coming under budget about $150,000 less for salaries. Fretz said that is basically because the mall cut our hours and they may do it again this year. Fretz said he didn’t put new police vehicles in the 2010 budget but we will be dealing with several current vehicles with over 200,000 miles. Fretz said four Crown Victorias would run around $100,000. Fretz said he would love to see more as far as staffing but we can remain the same if need be. Fretz said, as you all know, we didn’t get the grant for staffing and he doesn’t anticipate it coming through next year either. Lammi asked about the K9 numbers. Fretz said some money was incorrectly coded when bills were paid and that was due to us adding a new line item in the budget this year and his assistant not knowing of the new breakdown. Fretz said we have AED’s that need to be updated because they aren’t equipped for use on infants and he is including that in next year’s budget.

Supervisor Panella left the meeting.

FIRE DEPARTMENT

Delmar Grube said he will be under budget for 2009 but he couldn’t put a figure on the amount due to a new certification program that just got underway this year. Grube said the NFPA suggests the certifications. Lammi asked about the general expense line item that is already over budget for 2009. Grube said it was due to the closed circuit TV hookup. Grube said we thought the cable company would offer us free hookup but they didn’t. Grube said the number will grow approximately $400 for the remainder of the year. Colver noted the large truck loan is paid off this year and the only amount under capital equipment that will remain will be $12,000. Grube estimated a new truck would cost approximately $560,000 and said $70,000 or $80,000 would be paid by the relief association. Grube said the auditor that was here last week told me that relief funding is expected to go down. Colver said so the expected township cost would be around $490,000. Colver confirmed the next truck to be replaced on the schedule would come up in 2017. Grube said correct. Colver said that would give us seven years of budget until the next truck is due. Colver said a loan for $490,000 into six or seven year payments would be budgeting about $50,000 a year. Anckaitis said with interest you’d be right up to about what we are paying off this year, $80,000 a year payment. Grube said in a two year period the truck price went up $101,000.

PLANNING AND ZONING

Cyndie Carman said we are taking in more and spending more in development escrow accounts. Anckaitis said they held a meeting with the township solicitor this week and they will be bringing in a recommendation to change this whole developer escrow process. Carman said she expects expenditures to run under budget for the year. Raudenbush said the building permits number is down because the prior planning director felt Woodridge Falls numbers would come in this year. The Board held a brief discussion about Woodridge Falls appearing on the upcoming Zoning Hearing Board agenda. Carman said there should be a $45,000 savings in salaries due to recent job combinations. Carman said recreation fees will also be down due to Woodridge Falls.

PUBLIC UTILITIES

Paul Hosking and Val Colbeth attended the meeting to discuss the public utilities budget. Hosking said he’s pretty much on target. Hosking said treatment costs could be over but there should be no major problems. Colver asked if there were any projections for increasing fees. Hosking said no. Anckaitis said over the past couple of years we have had discussions about allowing credit card payments. Anckaitis said he feels it could generate revenue especially for delinquent accounts. Anckaitis said in addition to starting to accept credit cards he would also like to recommend that we stop allowing utility payments be made at Lafayette Ambassador Bank. Colbeth said utility payments made on the first of the month are not getting reported to us until the 15^th of the month. The Board agreed to go with credit card payments and eliminating payments at Lafayette Ambassador Bank.

COMMUNITY CENTER/POOL

Dan McKinney projected his 2009 income will be $46,500 higher than budgeted. McKinney said his expenditures should be down about $76,096. McKinney said this number does not include the anticipated $70,084 that we expected to transfer from the general fund to the community center account. McKinney projected 2010 income of $330,000 and expenditures of $425,000.

McKinney said the pool income is down this year. McKinney said the school year ended late and they are going back to school early. McKinney said despite that he feels the pool staff did a good job of controlling the expenditures. He projected income should be down about $28,125 and we should spend $45,520 less than what was budgeted.

RECREATION

Mark Knox said nothing is overspent to date and he anticipates soccer coming in under budget. Knox said most of the money he has left is for referee and entry fees. Knox said we will send lacrosse helmets out this year to be recertified that will cost about $2,400. Colver asked about the $2,000 budgeted for capital equipment. Knox said we could be spending some of that for fans in the field house.

WASTE AND RECYCLING

Cindy Oatis said she will be under budget in 2009. Oatis said a lot of expenses are still going to come in, but we will still be under budget on what we will spend for 2009.

ADMINISTRATION

Sheri Young said we are going to fall short on Business Privilege Taxes about $85,000. Young said she expects in 2010 that we will need to keep that number around $900,000. Lammi said in the past it was discussed about hiring a consultant to audit and expedite business privilege collections. Anckaitis said we discussed it at an earlier meeting but it wasn’t really supported or directed by the Board to hire the auditor. Young said the interest line items are expected to be down $45,000 but all other line items will be close to the mark. Young did say property transfer taxes are down $72,000.

Lammi said one of his concerns is the hospitalization figures continue to go up. Anckaitis reviewed new plan options that could save the township up to $23,726 a year, based on today’s figures.

REPORTS

On motion by Lammi, seconded by Smith, and agreed by four, Panella absent, the Board requested the Township Manager send a letter to the Zoning Hearing Board expressing the Board's support of the Woodridge Falls zoning requests.

On motion by Smith, seconded by Mitchell, and agreed by four, Panella absent, the meeting was adjourned at 3:57 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert G. Anckaitis

Township Manager