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George Avenue Streetscape project in Wilkes-Barre complete

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Tax break for massive Hazleton area commercial project on Luzerne County Council agenda

WILKES-BARRE &mdash; The city&rsquo;s budget balance continued to drop in the last quarter with a draft financial report for October showing it hitting the $1 million mark.
				City Administrator Charlie McCormick Monday said it was expected for the numbers to head in that direction.
				The balance was $3.6 million less than where it stood as of Oct. 31, 2019. By year&rsquo;s end the city should show a deficit of $4 million or more, Mayor George Brown has repeatedly stated, mainly due to the novel coronavirus pandemic&rsquo;s affect on revenues.
				Through 10 months of the year, the city posted revenues of $39.8 million or 77 % of the $51.9 million budgeted. Still, it was off from last year&rsquo;s mark of $42.4 million.
				The city collected $11.1 million or 95 % of the budgeted $11.5 million in property taxes. The Earned Income Tax also generated $11.1 million or 76% of the $14.6 million budgeted. However, the revenues were lower than last year for the period, $175,428 for the property tax and $42,495 for the EIT.
				On the other hand, expenses were $974,499 ahead of 2019. They totaled $38.7 million or 75% of the budget.
				Adding to the increase were the payments for the city&rsquo;s five pension plans. The Minimum Municipal Obligations or MMOs were a combined $1.5 million more this year compared to 2019:
				&#8226; Non-uniform, $2.4 million an increase of $569,977.
				&#8226; Old police, $1.5 million, an increase of $379,451.
				&#8226; New police, $1.2 million, an increase of $262,782.
				&#8226; Old fire, $1.2 million, an increase of $311,809.
				&#8226; New fire, $724,656, an increase of $52,478.
				The city&rsquo;s unfunded liability in the plans should be reduced and the MMO total lowered by approximately $1.3 million in 2021 through a program managed by Pension Funding Solutions LLC. Last month city council approved Wilkes-Barre&rsquo;s participation in the program that pools the state contributions to municipal pensions and the issuing of bonds to investors.
				But for this year, a number of revenue line items were off the mark.
				Building permits were budgeted at $2.4 million. At the end of October, the city reported $511,366 or 21% of the total.
				The city earned $287,986 from the parking meters, equating to 38% of the $750,000 budgeted.
				The $50 annual recycling fee brought in $332,470 in revenues, only 46% of the $725,000 budgeted. The $50 sewer maintenance fee raised $930,103 in revenues or 72% of the budgeted $1.3 million.
				Brown proposed doubling the fees in the 2021 to raise $2 million to balance his $53.2 million budget. On Nov. 19, city council, by a 3-2 vote, rejected his proposal, setting the stage for possible layoffs next year.
				Council members Tony Brooks, Beth Gilbert McBride and John Marconi, who formed the majority opposition to the budget, have offered suggestions to the administration. Among them was a reduction in the estimated $900,000 in overtime budgeted next year.
				According to the October draft, overtime exceeded the budgeted amount in a number of departments:
				&#8226; Waste collection,$202,803 or 135% of the $150,000 budgeted.
				&#8226; Park areas, $34,733 or 174% of the $20,000 budgeted.
				&#8226; Traffic control, $4,182 or 120 % of the $3,500 budgeted.
				&#8226; Police criminal investigation patrol sweeps, $4,056 or 406% of the $1,000 budgeted.
				The two sides have yet to reach a compromise so a reworked budget can be put to a vote. 
				The city introduced a new expense category to account for COVID-19 related spending. It itemized and tracked spending for salaries, overtime and other expenditures with the expectation it will be reimbursed at some point. Through the end of October the city reported a combined $994,451 in COVID-19-related expenses.

Wilkes-Barre budget balance shows expected drop