Borough Budget Bright Side

Jason Bobst

It's starting to look like when Borough Manager Jason Bobst leaves the borough in August, he will be leaving it in pretty good financial shape.

He offered council a mid-year budget status report Wednesday that could be summed up as "most of the funds are going pretty well."

"Some lines," he said, "are cause for concern but overall, the borough's books are on a positive cash basis and we're projecting a $50,000 surplus at the end of the year, barring anything unexpected."

Given that as recently as 2009, the borough has ended the year with deficits this is good news and the result of hard work by Finance Director Janice Lee and her staff, Bobst said.

The main building of
MCCC's Pottstown
campus...

...is connected by a pedestrian
underpass to the
North Hall campus.

The three budget lines which are in a cash negative basis are familiar: PCTV, the airport fund and the grant fund.

"The grant fund is a little misleading because we have to spend the money to get the reimbursement, but historically, that fund has been down by $300,000," said Bobst.

The reason for that is cost overruns on the project to build a tunnel under the freight rail line parallel to High Street which connects the two campuses of Montgomery County Community College.

The underpass
before construction...

...the underpass after
construction

But Bobst said the borough has been plowing $75,000 per year over the past few years into that fund and they expect it to be in the black shortly.

The $31,000 deficit in the airport fund will disappear when the final loan payments on the new hangars are paid off, and then the rental payments for those hangars will begin to develop a positive cash flow for that fund, Bobst said.

As for the PCTV fund, which is $561,000 in the red, Bobst said the new contract the borough hopes to sign shortly with the new company managing PCTV, TellusTV, will erase much of that debt and the borough will no longer to liable for the payments on the new equipment the system purchased several years ago to keep up with changing technology.

Bobst told council Wednesday night that the new contract treats PCTV as a simple income line in the budget and is structured in a fashion similar to what the borough tried to set up with the previous operator, Maplewood Video.

On the plus side, the parking lot fund has enough cash to begin to upgrade some of the parking lots and "get rid of the antiquated metering system and put new meters in," said Bobst.

The mild winter was also easy on the liquid fuels fund, said Bobst.

The borough's salt pile is not this big, but you get the idea.

With plenty of salt and little to no over-time required of the road crews to clear snow, there is enough money for Public Works Director Doug Yerger to set up a schedule to do some paving this summer, Bobst said.

Excess cash in the parks and recreation, library, fire and street lights funds will also allow the borough to "retire some deficits we had in those funds as well," said Bobst.

And additional funds in the trash fund will allow the borough to set some cash aside for capital projects, primarily paying to replace the blue recycling bins as they reach the end of their useful life.

"This really shows how the EIP report continues to bear fruit and how much we've improved our cash position since 2009," Bobst said.

Careful accounting has put the
borough accounts in better shape.

He was referring to a state-sponsored Early Intervention Program report, issued by the Ohio-based Management Partners consulting company, which made a series of short and long-range financial and operational recommendations to keep the borough solvent in tough times.

Financial experts recommend a municipality keep 15 percent of its operating budget in reserve.

Lee told council that the borough authority is right at 15 percent and the borough is getting there, with currently eight to nine percent in reserve.

This improvement in the borough's finances was the reason Pottstown obtained a favorable interest rate on the money it recently borrowed for a number of capital projects, including a new borough garage, to replace the ramshackle exhibit on Beech Street.

"We got an informal credit rating of A," Bobst said. "We never could have obtained that before and it saved us money with such a favorable interest rate."

Chance to Speak Your Piece on Borough Issues

Happy with your tax bill?

Do you have any complaints about how the borough operates?

The Mercury's Sound Off section suggests there is no shortage of those.

Do you have any suggestions for how to make things better?

Would you like more information on, say, how the new trash schedule will work?; how much of your water bill pays for trash pick-up?; which member of borough council represents your neighborhood?

This information, and much more, can be had tomorrow night during the year's first open forum public ward meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. in the council meeting room, third floor of Pottstown Borough Hall.

Wednesday night's meeting is on the 3rd floor of borough hall.

I would provide you a link to the borough web site for more information, but I've already provided you with more information on this meeting than you will find there.

Speaking to borough council earlier this month, Bobst told the council members that in 2012, he hopes to hold these meetings quarterly, and in a general location.

Pottstown Borough Manager Jason Bobst

Previously, Bobst has tried to hold a meeting in each of the borough's seven wards, as a way to reach out to residents and hear their concerns.

They were not well attended.

However, his more recent attempt at outreach, a meeting held in December on suggestions for the 2012 budget, attracted about a dozen people and some of the suggestions made there found their way onto Bobst's agenda for the year.

No doubt, he is hoping Wednesday night's meeting bears similar fruit.

Share Your Thoughts About Downtown Pottstown

If you're a merchant downtown, or you care about downtown stores, you might want to clear your calendar tomorrow for a meeting of the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority.

The meeting will be on the third floor of this building.

Starting at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 24, the meeting will be held in council chambers, the third floor of Pottstown Borough Hall, 100 E. High St., Pottstown.

PDIDA President Sheila Dugan will provide a re-cap of 2011, including the board re-organization, targeting new businesses, better marketing of downtown events and goals for 2012.

Susan Storb will report on PDIDA's finances, showing administrative costs have been cut by 50 percent and the importance of making timely payments.

Board member Andrew Monastra will report on the Facade loans and assessment payments.

Board member Cindy Brower will report on events and committees on tab for 2012, as well as the need for a yearly calendar of events downtown.

The PDIDA office is located in the first floor of this building on N. Hanover Street

Board member John Armato will provide a report on communications, including a "Monthly PDIDA Corner" report both in The Mercury and on-line.

Board member Ben Moscia will report on cleaning up downtown, snow removal and littering laws.

And then the meeting will be opened up for a merchant discussion, in which input on merchant issues, concern and suggestions will be solicited.

Also present will be Steve Bamford, the new executive director of PAID, Borough Manager Jason Bobst and members of borough council.

Because this meeting occurs at the same time as the Pottsgrove School Board meeting about re-districting the elementary schools there, our coverage of this will be limited ... if there is anything at all. So take notes and let us know how it goes.

Looking for a Few Good Citizens...

Democracy works when people claim it as their own.

-- BILL MOYERS, The Nation, Jan. 22, 2007

It's doubtful that too many people made a New Year's resolution to get more involved with their borough government, but for those of you who did, opportunities are on the horizon.

At Monday night's Borough Council Meeting, appointments will be made to a number of borough committees boards and authorities which have enormous influence over how things get done in Pottstown.

Appointments will be made to open seats on:

•  The Blighted Property Reviews (four one-year terms);
• The Historic Architecture Review Board (one vacancy which must be filled by a Real Estate professional);
• The Pottstown Borough Authority (one five-year term);
• The Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority (three five-year terms);
• The Zoning Hearing Board (one three-year terms and one alternate).
• Next month, an appointment will be made to the Pottstown Planning Commission (one four-year term).

Most of the incumbents in these seats have asked to be re-appointed, with the exception of the HARB vacancy, which must be filled by a Realtor; and in the case of the borough authority, for which Councilman Jeff Chomnuk has asked to be considered.

On PDIDA, two incumbents are seeking re-appointment, Andrew Monastra and Cynthia Brower, but a third, Warren Holohan, is not.

On the planning commission, the term that is expiring is that of Borough Council President Stephen Toroney, who asked to be re-appointed. "I think we can accommodate you," said Councilman Dan Weand, who also sits on the planning commission.

Despite the fact that most of those incumbents and members of council seem destined to be appointed or re-appointed Monday, those interested should know that council is free to appoint anyone who applies, or even someone who does not.

Borough Manager Jason Bobst did not indicate whether any other applications have been made, although he usually notes it when there are.

In the past, the borough has made an outreach effort to bring people into the process, but that has not occurred this year.

But even if you can't get appointed to one of these committees or boards, there may be another way to get involved.

Wednesday night, council indicated it will review a number of ordinances and among them is the possibility of an ordinance authorizing Citizen Advisory Groups.

The borough plans to look into forming Citizen Advisory Groups

Most recently called for in a Dec. 24 post on Code Blue's Blog, The Pulse, such groups are a way of getting citizen input on crucial issues facing the borough, said Bobst.  

He told council that the state of Washington has "a very comprehensive ordinance." 

Bobst added "we're not advocating for this, but we are asking for permission to investigate it."

Toroney replied "I think it's a good idea that we should move forward."

So if you want to get involved, stay tuned.

... Or, perhaps you're a bit more cynical and your view of such things mirrors that of H.L. Mencken: "Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance."

Let's (Not) Talk Trash

POTTSTOWN -- With no comment or discussion, borough council Monday night unanimously authorized the advertisement of a new ordinance that will make property owners responsible for cleaning up the litter dropped in front of their homes.

As I reported in the April 24 edition of The Mercury, the ordinance is based on a Massachusetts law and, at the time it was first publicly broached, generated quite a bit of discussion.

Back then, Borough Manager Jason Bobst told council the law is necessary because the borough has been told time and time again by district judges that under current ordinance, unless a person is witnessed littering, they can’t be prosecuted for it.


Under the new proposal, property owners would be responsible for cleaning up in front of their properties; a problem highlighted in a more recent Mercury report, about a High Street property owned by state Rep. Marcy Toepel.

“That would mean that regardless of how it got there, the property owner would be responsible for keeping the property clean of trash,” is how Mayor Bonnie Heath explained it in April.

Also at the time, Councilwoman Maureen Allen expressed concerns because, she said, some parts of town have more of a litter problem than others. "Why are we always falling back on the property owners?" she asked in April.

Also at the time, Councilman Jody Rhoads warned that if people are made responsible for trash in the alleys dropped by trash collectors, "that's going to be a bad situation."

But Council Vice President Mark Gibson, who each year is involved with borough-wide clean-ups, and Councilman Joseph Kirkland both supported the measure in April; particularly after Bobst said the worst problem in town is with rental properties and tenants leaving and leaving their stuff behind when they move out, to the point where "it looks like their living room threw up in the alley."

Borough  Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. was instructed to draft an ordinance in April, but there has been no public discussion of it since then (that I can recall). In fact, not a word was said about it at Monday's meeting, other than the vote itself.

It remains unclear, therefore, what the provisions are, how fines, if any would work, or any of the particulars.

I guess this must be one of those times when it pays to read The Mercury legal notices and keep an eye out for it there, as, in all likelihood, it will come up for a vote next month.

* * *

In other garbage-related news, council also announced that three companies submitted bids for a new trash contract for the borough. And although they have been opened, they have not yet been tabulated.

The three companies that bid are Waste Management, Mascaro & Sons, which currently provides the service, and A.J. Blosenski Inc. The bid will be awarded during a special council meeting, scheduled for Monday, Nov. 28, when the 2012 budget will also be discussed in detail.

The last contract kept trash costs the same throughout all three years of the pact. The results of this bid are likely to have a large impact on the 2012 budget, and any increase will show up in your trash/water bill.