Finance committee recommends 10 budget amendments to council, including downtown pledge and ESG passthrough

The city finance committee recommended approval of 10 grouped budget amendments and grant rollovers and forwarded the package to the full city council after a 3-0 roll-call vote.

Speaker 1, who presented the agenda, said Member Memo No. 1 ties actual spending in three accounts (community recovery, the homelessness initiative and affordable housing) to the prior Sept. 30 budget balances and moves a previously approved $150,000 downtown-initiative pledge into this year’s budget so the university partner can be paid. "The coordinator was hired," Speaker 1 said when describing next steps for the downtown initiative partner.

The committee also approved a series of smaller and department-specific items. The police department presented a $35,000 line for furnishings and renovation-related office furniture for its records room and traffic bureau; the police chief said vendors have provided measurements and quotes and that the department is ready to purchase the approved equipment.

Public-safety grants were among the items: the fire chief described a $5,000 FM Global grant the department will use to replace rugged mobile data terminals with iPads and mounting hardware, and a $55,455 pipeline emergency-response grant from FEMA to buy combustible-gas monitoring equipment for pipeline or rail incidents. "So for this particular grant, I believe it's 2028" for the spending deadline, the fire chief said about the FEMA award.

Health Director Kristin Weinrich told the committee the Pennsylvania Department of Health awarded a maternal-health grant that will fund temporary staffing and program expenses; she also asked that remaining workforce-development funds from 2025 be rolled into 2026 to complete a community health needs assessment and a communications plan.

Housing and grants staff (Miss Collins) described amendments to Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) money the city administers as a passthrough for nonprofit homelessness providers. Collins said late-2024 and fiscal-2025 awards increased ESG funding by a combined amount that brings fiscal-2024 and -2025 ESG totals higher (she cited an additional $150,000 added at the end of 2024 and a $400,000 award for fiscal 2025). Collins said the city now coordinates funds and reporting for roughly 14 recipient organizations.

Ed Boscaula, director of water and sewer resources, described a headcount-neutral staffing change after an account clerk retired; the department will redistribute duties and add a maintenance-support position at the filtration plant, with the salary charged to the water fund.

On the utility capital-reconciliation item, staff compared Sept. 30 budgeted balances to Dec. 31 balances and said variances reflect project timing and multiple funding sources, including bond proceeds and grant reimbursements. Speaker 6 said delayed work on Friendship Park and other timing issues explained a substantial portion of the roughly $2 million variance. Controller Mister Yasso noted he could not find documentation to support one small $5,825 adjustment for the East Broad Street corridor improvement and asked administration staff to supply reconciliation backup.

Procedurally, the committee voted to consider all 10 items as a group, then moved and passed a recommendation approving the grouped items to the full council on a 3-0 roll call. The legislative items will be placed on tonight's city council agenda.

The committee did not finalize detailed spending timelines for every item; several presenters said follow-up meetings or documentation (reconciliations and invoices) would be provided to clarify specific entries.