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Council flags budget shortfall, authorizes official to sign pension MMOs
Summary
Council discussed an underbudgeted health-insurance cost creating a projected shortfall and approved authorizing a borough official to sign municipal pension MMO forms required before Sept. 25.
Council members told the Borough Council of Clarks Summit that health-insurance costs were underbudgeted and that updated audit figures are needed to finalize the 2026 budget.
One council member said the borough currently projects a monthly variance in health-insurance spending of roughly $8,000 to $15,000 compared with earlier estimates and that accumulated variance could amount to $50,000–$150,000, although the official stressed final numbers depend on the audit and incoming sewer-account receipts. The borough plans to transfer $500,000 from its real estate account into the general fund; staff said that deposit has not yet been completed but is expected.
Council members agreed to use updated numbers when preparing the first pass at the 2026 budget and discussed scheduling a finance-committee budget meeting in late September.
Separately, the council voted to authorize a borough official to sign the municipal pension Minimum Municipal Obligation (MMO) forms for police and nonuniformed personnel; the police MMO was described as about $47,000 this year (up from roughly $42,000 last year) and the nonuniform MMO as about $28,000 this year (down from roughly $31,000 last year). A council member said the MMOs are mandated numbers and must be signed before Sept. 25. The council moved and seconded the authorization; the motion was recorded as approved on the record.
