Commissioners to act on budget
The Fayette County commissioners will take action Thursday regarding a tentative 2010 general fund budget that is far from finished. During Tuesday’s agenda meeting the commissioners unanimously voted to place a motion on Thursday’s agenda to consider approval of the proposed general fund budget for next year, without any comment.
If the budget is approved on Thursday, it will be available for public comment, and must then be voted on before the end of the year. The next monthly meeting is scheduled for Dec. 17.
After Tuesday’s meeting, commission Chairman Vincent Zapotosky said the budget currently doesn’t include a property tax increase, but work will continue on it to ensure it is fiscally responsible.
Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites said the budget would be pared down in the weeks to come, adding that a tax increase would be a last resort.
The 2009 budget did not include a tax increase, and included $22.9 million in expenditures and revenue of $22.6 million. The millage rate is 3.51 mills.
In a budget-related matter, the commissioners failed to take action on a fiscal year 2009-2010 Fayette County Behavioral Health Administration compensation plan for July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010.
Lisa Ferris-Kusniar said the plan includes 3 percent pay raises and longevity increases in five-year increments for employees, starting Jan. 1.
Vicites said he wasn’t prepared to take action on the plan without a final decision on how much of a pay increase will be budgeted for the county’s non-union employees for 2010.
Zapotosky said the county budget would be finalized next month.
“We have to address this by the end of the year,” said Commissioner Angela M. Zimmerlink.
For the current year, the commissioners gave all of the county’s 88 non-union employees 3 percent pay increases.
The commissioners also voted to place on Thursday’s agenda a motion to approve the collective bargaining agreement between the 29 county and Children and Youth Services employees, represented by State Employees International Union Local 668, for Jan. 1, 2009, through Dec. 31, 2011.
Dominick Carnicella, county human resource director of Felice Associates of Greensburg, said the union has ratified the contract. He said the increase in contribution for health insurance would increase in January.
Carnicella said the contract calls for pay increases of 3 percent each year, with an additional $650 pay increase each in 2009 and 2010.
Carnicella said the current annual rates of pay for employees are $19,508 to $37,455.
Retroactive to Jan. 1, 2009, with the increases, the salaries will be $20,112 to $39,248 annually.
As of Jan. 1, 2010, the salary ranges will be $22,055 to $40,095 annually and effective Jan. 1, 2011, the salary ranges for the employees will be $22,716 to $41,297.
The commissioners also posthumously accepted the resignation of the late Nancy Sutton from the Fayette County Housing Authority board as a tenant representative.
Although the county tenant organization makes a recommendation, the commissioners decide whom to place on the five-member board.
By law, a replacement must be a tenant of public housing or Section 8 housing. Any tenant wishing to serve on the board is asked to send a letter to Kathy Winkler at the Fayette County Courthouse at 61 E. Main St., Uniontown, Pa. 15401. The term expires Dec. 31, 2010.
Although Zimmerlink said the commissioners have not interviewed for the tenant representative in the past, Vicites said they have.
Sutton was serving the fourth year of her second five-year term on the board.