Editorial

By an 11-0 vote with two absent, the City Council did what it could not do through six weeks leading up to its 8-5 rejection of Mayor Nancy Rossi’s Proposed Budget of $162.86 million. Faced with a complete takeover by the Municipal Accountability Review Board, the council heeded the remonstrations of both Rossi and the MARB’s own leadership by passing a revised budget that pares $3 million from the original.

To recap:

~~ Rossi announced her budget in March, but immediately there were problems;

~~ MARB disagreed with a presumption in the mayor’s budget that would have given the city $9 million in aid toward balancing the revenue side;

~~ MARB, instead, gave the city administration a guarantee of $6 million of the $9 million available, with the other $3 million parsed out for administrative and other costs;

~~ During its six-week review, the council could not cobble together the necessary nine-vote supermajority needed to make changes in the spending plan;

~~ The council voted to reject the budget, which under the city charter means the Mayor’s Proposed Budget goes into law by default;

~~ At its May meeting MARB rejected the budget, and gave the city until June 7 to come up with the necessary $3 million in cuts or face a complete takeover by the panel, putting the city into Tier IV designation as a stressed municipality.

~~ Faced with the possibility the MARB would reopen all contracts and determine mill rates with the council as no more than a rubber stamp, the mayor and council worked to get the cuts;

~~ Those cuts were OK’d by the council with MARB’s chairman attending the meeting.

City taxpayers will get their tax bills in a timely fashion – a worry some had – thus allowing mortgage holders to make necessary adjustments. But as expected, the city’s mill rate, while steady under the proposed budget, will increase one mill under the revision passed last week.

Taxpayers will see the city’s tax rate go to 36.26 mills for Fiscal Year 2019. That is not including fire district taxes. The city’s Motor Vehicle Tax Rate will be 37, once again utilizing a General Assembly revision. Allingtown residents, who put their fire district under city control eight years ago, will see the Fire Dept. tax go to 13.06 mills, while the fire Motor Vehicle Tax will be 8. The Sewer use Fee will be $462 per unit.

The city may not be out of the woods, however. As of this writing (and after press time) the MARB will have its monthly meeting and, once again, go over the City Council’s decisions. At risk is the city’s designation.

When the city bonded $25 million to pay off the operating deficit of more than $16 million in 2017 (other items were in the bond issue), the city was put under MARB, complying with a new laws passed by the General Assembly last year. It was designated a Tier III stressed municipality. That allowed the city administration and City Council some autonomy in determining financial decisions, including contractual negotiations.

In its May meeting as mentioned above, MARB told the city failure to come up with the necessary revisions in the budget and structural changes in spending would result in Tier IV designation. That would give almost complete control to MARB, including opening up existing contracts and setting mill rates and other such decisions.

MARB gave the city guidance as to what it expected prior to last week’s vote, but that is no guarantee the city will not be put into a Tier IV designation.

The City Council did its job, though under the gun. It was able to work and overcome the internal squabbling that has characterized budget-making problems in the past. For that we should be grateful. However, the city is still not out of the fiscal woods. There are some that believe MARB would rather have complete control, rather than have to endure the legislative process.

We shall see. That is something out of the control of resident, taxpayers, politician or pundit. One thing is certain. Necessary changes were made, and, we hope, lead to a better course for the city in the long run.