The State College Borough Council has begun reviewing spending plans for the upcoming year, which include a $1.1 million budget increase and real estate tax hike.
Each year, the budget deliberations result in hours of discussion and a final budget that reaches hundreds of pages in length. The process provides a glimpse into the way the borough spent money over the previous 12 months, as well as the changes council has in store for future expenditures.
As projected, the operating budget for the borough will rise from about $22.2 million in 2013 to $23.4 million in 2014.
Over the course of several meetings in November so far, council members debated the merits of specific spending hikes and cuts and heard presentations from borough officials.
Some upcoming plans that reflect the budget hike include a $9.7 million project that will include renovations to the borough’s Public Works facility on Osmond Street and the section of Atherton Street between College and Beaver Avenues. Also slated for 2014 is a $775,000 update to Pugh Street that will add turn lanes and repair the street surface.
At the meetings, council also sat down to presentations detailing the 2014 budgets for individual borough departments.
Another area where the borough will see increased costs is with the implementation of an online system to keep track of financial records, says Assistant Borough Manager Roger Dunlap, who also functions as the borough’s chief financial officer.
The new system will lead to a 17 percent increase in the financial services budget, prompting council member Jim Rosenberger to question whether the system will really be more efficient.
But Dunlap says the costs should only be higher while the system is being set up, and will lead to cost savings and reduction of paper waste in the long term.
“It’s not unusual to ramp up funding during the implementation of a system like this,” Dunlap says.
The Information and Technology Services department also presented a budget with a significant increase. One reason for the $285,000 increase, according to Borough Manager Tom Fountaine, is that several new positions on staff went unfilled in 2013. Funding for one of those positions is included in the current 2014 budget.
At recent meetings, council also discussed donations to local organizations, which include $2,000 to the State Theater, $20,000 to First Night State College, and $50,000 to the Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania.
Council has scheduled a public hearing about the budget for Dec. 2. After that, a final review session will take place Dec. 9. Council plans to adopt the $23.4 million budget at a Dec. 16 meeting.
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