Borough staff presents 2026 budget workshop, warns of tight discretionary funds and rising capital needs

“Today is the first budget workshop for 2026,” finance staff told council, laying out proposed fund balances, a bond-project tracking sheet and a draft capital-improvement plan. The proposed general fund budget for 2026 shows roughly $6.77 million in income, and staff said the borough faces about $8 million in infrastructure projects next year. After accounting for committed and completed bond projects, the bond fund currently shows “almost $1.4 million” available and, depending on project outcomes, staff estimated about $1 million could remain if all proposed projects proceed. Why it matters: council must decide which discretionary projects to fund as the borough faces multiple large capital needs and revenue growth that has lagged inflation. Finance staff said the borough’s three largest revenue sources—real estate, earned income and business/sales taxes, which make up about 60% of the general fund—have increased on average about 1.88% annually over eight years while inflation averaged 3.44% in that period. The staff noted the borough has not had a reassessment since 2012, which reduces growth in residential real-estate revenue. Most important facts and supporting details: finance staff summarized four principal funds: general, road, sewer (SOAR) and bond, plus a liquid fuels fund restricted by PennDOT standards. Staff said the general fund currently lacks a full three months’ expense reserve, while the road and sewer funds meet that guideline. The SCBA reserve for fire breathing apparatus is sufficiently funded and the petty-cash/checking/flex accounts remain small operating balances. On the bond fund, staff reported the tracking spreadsheet is reconciled to QuickBooks through August and is balanced except for a single $3,700 discrepancy, down from a prior $112,000 variance. The capital-improvement plan was updated; most projects rose slightly in cost, with the fire program showing a dramatic increase. Staff warned that project overruns can quickly reduce bond balances: “with these massive projects going on, a 10% over on one of those projects could very quickly diminish that amount,” they said. Budget details and decision matrix: the draft budget lists roughly $1.5 million in requested discretionary decisions (not counting a possible ladder truck), while staff said the available discretionary cash is about $350,000 (after noting a $400,000 placeholder for Ewing Road is included). Examples of decision items on the matrix include: Ewing Road (placeholder $400,000, from the road reserve), community-center floor and carpet, cameras and door controls for the new Public Works building (about $35,000), police garage floor (up to $70,000), library children’s room wall/door (placeholder), elevator replacement (noted as 33 years old), fireworks cost increases for next year, a dog park ($25,000 placeholder), and potential purchase or replacement of a street sweeper. Road tax and reserves: staff noted the road fund normally brings in about $600,000 with a prior road tax rate (previously cited at about 2.42). They proposed returning the road tax revenue to the road fund but suggested council consider changing the allocation percentage to move more into the general fund because the general fund is leaner than the road fund. Sewer and maintenance: CCTV work completed this year revealed significant deferred maintenance in some older neighborhoods; staff said the preliminary review produced higher repair estimates than expected (see related article on sewer CCTV findings). Process and next steps: staff recommended the finance committee review the spreadsheet line by line to identify savings or calculation errors and to mark decision items as yes/no/maybe on the decision matrix. Staff said some decision items could be moved to the bond fund as placeholders and funded later if bond-project cashflow allows. A finance-committee meeting was scheduled next week for deeper review. Quotes: finance staff summarized the meeting’s scope: “I’m gonna go over kind of the overall items tonight. We’ll go over fund balances, where we’re at, the bond project tracking sheet and where we’re at with that, an updated capital expense plan for operations, draft fund budgets.” On reconciliation of the bond tracking sheet, staff said the reconciliation “is basically balanced except for that one thing” — a $3,700 discrepancy — down from a prior $112,000 variance. On revenue trends, staff said the borough’s major income items “do not keep up with inflation, generally speaking,” and attributed much of that to the lack of reassessments since 2012. Ending and calendar: no formal votes were taken at the workshop. Staff will update the budget workbook with council decisions, obtain updated estimates (for example, on Ewing Road), and return with refined numbers; the finance committee will meet next week to begin that line-by-line review.