Dec 13, 2006 By Christine Haines 4 min read

BROWNSVILLE – Brownsville Borough Council has until Dec. 28 to either find another $51,000 in revenue or trim that much from its spending plan. Council Tuesday approved a tentative budget that calls for $736,851.77 in spending, with only $685,588.94 in revenue. Council President Jack Lawver said the deficit includes bills from this year that are being carried into next year.

The current property tax is set at 4.125 mills, well under the maximum of 30 mills allowed under state law. Each mill of taxes generates $47,585.37 for the borough.

Taxes would need to be increased by just over a mill, or about 25 percent, if the budget is to be balanced through a tax increase. Lawver called upon residents of the borough to offer suggestions on ways revenue can be increased without raising taxes.

Council will consider adoption of a final budget in a special session at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 28. Several budget sessions will be held prior to the final meeting.

A week ago, council laid off all of the borough employees except for the borough manager, who was kept on to handle the unemployment forms for the other workers and to prepare several audit reports that the borough must file before the end of the year or risk losing state funds.

In addition to the projected budget deficit for 2007, the borough owes $40,000 from the 2006 tax anticipation loan. The borough has paid $10,000 on the loan since last week, when the layoffs took place.

“Every dollar we get, unless there’s a ‘have-to’ bill coming in, will go directly toward the tax anticipation loan,” Lawver said.

Council voted Tuesday to accept a bid of $3,555 for its unused 1993 police car. A car dealer in New York submitted the bid.

Lawver said that money had not been anticipated in the budget and will go toward paying down the tax loan. The borough cannot take out its 2007 tax anticipation loan until the current loan is paid off.

“We’re anticipating we’re going to have this paid off by the end of the year,” Lawver said.

Councilman John Hosler said Fayette County Community Action has agreed to pay $4,800 a year to the borough for use of the basement of the borough building for the Brownsville Soup Kitchen. The borough covers the utilities for the facility, which has used the space rent-free for the past 30 years. Hosler noted that the borough lost $9,000 a year in revenue when the magisterial district judges’ offices were combined and the office moved out of borough building at the end of 2005.

In other matters, state police Lt. Bernard Petrovsky, the commander of the Belle Vernon barracks, assured residents that in the absence of the local police department, the state police are providing protection.

“We are mandated to provide you with police coverage if something happens like what happened here and you had to lay off your officers,” Petrovsky said. “You do, in essence, have a police department at all times.”

Petrovsky said the state police can offer services a small, local department cannot provide, such as a truck inspection unit, crime scene investigation and helicopters for searches. What the state police cannot provide, Petrovsky said, is the immediate response that comes from being stationed within the borough.

“I have 62 officers at Belle Vernon, but we do have a big patrol area,” Petrovsky said.

Petrovsky said residents with complaints about the state police coverage may contact him Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Belle Vernon barracks.

“Hopefully, you can work things out and get your police department back,” Petrovsky said.

Councilman Robert Pritts cautioned residents against becoming vigilantes.

“Call the police, be patient. Lock your doors and lock your cars. Do things to keep yourself safe and your property safe,” Pritts said.