Borough's proposed 2008 budget

The proposed 2008 “basic” borough budget calls for a real estate tax increase of 8%, no increase in water or sewer rates, and a slight decrease in the trash fee.
*
*
*
But, the “basic” budget does not include

Budget “B”–“staff recommended budget additions” totaling $3,420,640
Budget “S”–“sponsored items for consideration” totaling $120,500
Budget “C”–“other items for consideration” totaling $1,535,010

In other words, there are still over $5 million in possible outlays awaiting decision.

For some other budget thoughts that I’ve passed on to Council, {sorry, that link is gone now).

The Phoenix "Skips" the News

Phoenixville's 2008 proposed budget was presented to Council Tuesday night, November 13th.

To read our local paper, The Phoenix, you'd never know that.

Maybe it's because they didn't bother to send a reporter to cover the meeting.

Leaks from the secret budget

Rumors abound that the Borough is exploring the imposition of a business privilege tax to staunch the expected flow of red ink in the 2008 budget.

Maybe we should try to recall that the Borough once had such a tax.

Maybe Messrs. Messina, Kirkner, and DiGirolomo, our triumvirate of financial whizzers, should try to recall that the Borough's business privilege tax was REPEALED while they were all on Council.

If they try real hard, they might even discover why they repealed it.

Barry Cassidy--Beyond All Bounds

In his 'Guest Column' in the November 1st Phoenix, Barry Cassidy writes:

"We will be seeking to 'Connect Underutilized Networks of
Transportation' to make sure Norristown is not our window on the world and we connect better with Chester County."

You can't believe that the slogan he chose is an accident.

What is the matter with The Phoenix for publishing this--and as a 'Guest Column' no less?

What is the matter with the Main Street CDC Board for continuing to employ Cassidy?

What is the matter with the Borough Council for empowering this vulgar miscreant to represent our Borough?

Phoenixville phiscal phorecast?

Proposed county budget
includes no tax increase

–The Daily Local News, October 30, 2007

Wonder why you don’t see the Phoenixville Borough budget yet?

The Phoenix gets one right

Steel & Slag

from The Phoenix, October 26, 2007

Slag goes to the borough administration for not presenting even preliminary budget estimates at the borough council committees meeting on Monday, despite council’s previous order to do so. Borough Manager Anthony DiGirolomo said that presenting current estimates would only waste time. Is that really his decision to make?

Apparently so, because council made hardly any objection. Slag goes to the seven members who tamely accepted this refusal of their direction, but Steel goes to Kendrick Buckwalter, the councilman who has been pressing to get budget figures sooner, so that there would be sufficient time for debating them and making changes, if necessary.

Happy holiday pay

Did you know that last November or so, the Borough announced it was changing how it paid police officers’ holiday pay?

Did you know that apparently someone in the Borough administration thinks that the Borough had been overpaying holidays?

Did you know that the police association has filed a grievance on this issue? (Not too surprising, is it?)

If the Borough is wrong, do you have any idea about how much more the Borough will have to pay the police officers?

If the Borough is right, do you have any idea how long it had been paying incorrectly, how much was paid incorrectly, and what plans there are to recover the overpayments?

It’s only our Borough, it’s only our police force, and it’s only our money–why should our Borough government tell us about it?