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Residents urge transparency on budget and park spending after council skips public hearings
Summary
A resident read a letter criticizing the council for adopting a budget without public hearings, questioned a reduction in park matching grants, and asked that a paid consultant's Williamson Park report be published; the council said email comments were being accepted and asked the resident to confirm recipients.
At the non-agenda public comment period, Peggy Walsh of Stockham Avenue read a letter raising concerns about the borough's budget process and park spending. Walsh said she and her husband submitted emailed comments before the budget vote but received no reply and that, in their view, the council was moving forward without public hearings. She noted the 2025 budget appeared to earmark $50,000 for matching park-improvement grants compared with $75,000 in the 2024 budget and asked for clarity about how prior consultant work on Williamson Park was used and whether that report could be posted publicly.
Walsh also referenced an unverified rumor that $1,000,000 is to be spent on Patriot's Park and called that figure “extravagant” given perceived inaction at Williamson Park. Council members responded by asking Walsh to recheck email addresses and confirming they would search for the submitted message in spam folders if necessary; one councilor said he had not seen her email.
The council did not produce a formal response in the meeting text beyond asking staff to check their inboxes and confirming that email submissions are an accepted avenue for public input when formal hearings are not scheduled.
