Oct 24, 2017 By Rachel Basinger for The 3 min read

CONNELLSVILLE — Four years after disheveled filing made completing a yearly audit challenging, city officials have moved onward and upward with finances, discussing a detailed budget that includes a surplus.

“We had people pulling files out of boxes that were over in the (old firehall) trying to get the numbers we needed to complete the audit (in 2013),” said Mayor Greg Lincoln.

On Monday, City Clerk Vern Ohler, Lincoln, council members with the finance committee and several department heads met to go over the prepared budget.

They made a few small changes on some line items, but overall, Ohler hopes to present the preliminary 2018 budget that has a surplus of nearly $40,000 to council for approval at council’s Nov. 21 meeting.

Total revenues in the proposed budget before the changes were projected at $3,054,307.41 and total expenditures were $3,016,760.80.

Ohler credits the city’s finances being in order to the great working relationship between the city’s tax office employees and other city officials.

“They are all working together to do what needs to be done and right now the city’s finances are as transparent as they’ve ever been,” Ohler said. “Someone can come in and ask where we’re at on any line item and we can give them that number.”

Some of the line items discussed included the annual salaries of two part-time tax secretaries.

The preliminary budget showed a total of $16,120 for the positions at $8 an hour a total between them of 40 hours a week. Lincoln and Councilman Ethan Keedy said they could probably knock that down to $13,000 for 30 hours a week. The 30 hours would be split between the two secretaries.

“We’ll take it down to 30 hours a week this year, and if that needs to be bumped up next year, that’s what we’ll do,” Lincoln said.

Another brief discussion was at the request by the head of public works to add an extra summer employees, making a total of four summer employees instead of the three they have had.

At minimum wage, 40 hours a week for 12 weeks out of the year, the total would have been $12,600 for four summer employees. Lincoln said to keep that at $10,000 for the three employees.

Health and Code Officer Tom Curry will be finishing up a three-year contract at the end of the year and requested a 2 percent raise for his salary next year as well as a $250-a-month stipend for opting out of the city’s health insurance. Above that, he requested 56-cent per mile reimbursement on all traveling in his personal car on city business.

With the health officer and code officer salaries combined, the salary for Curry for 2018 with the proposed raises would be $49,547.89. Connellsville Redevelopment Authority reimburses the city $20,000 of this salary.

Ohler said they need to look into getting a city-owned vehicle for Curry.

“If he’s driving around doing city business, he should have his own (city) car,” Ohler said.

Lincoln said he asked that a 3 percent raise be given to Ohler, bringing him from $54,844 to $56,489.32 in the preliminary 2018 budget. “I feel that what his position is, he deserves this increase,” Lincoln said. “He’s pretty much on call 24 hours a day.”

Ohler said as far as revenues go, they tried to be very cautious and conservative.

“We had a business and a grocery store close up so we dropped our earned income tax down from $525,000 to $500,000.

If this preliminary budget is passed at the Nov. 21 meeting, residents will have 30 days to review it.

Lincoln said if all is in order, they hope to ratify the final budget at their December meeting.