Eastern Delaware County JRD approves FY2026 budget amendment to fund community-center planning

The Eastern Delaware County Joint Recreation District approved a fiscal-year 2026 budget amendment at its May 21 meeting to provide additional appropriations for consulting services to support community-center planning.

Mister Hennessy, a staff member presenting the proposal, told the board the amendment shifts small amounts among line items to cover the consulting contract. "The reason for that is we need to provide additional appropriations in the consulting services line item in order to fund the Pizzuti Solutions proposal for the community center planning," he said. He stated that the adjustment reduces the insurance line by $250, reduces the legal line from $15,000 to "5" in the transcript, and eliminates a $2,000 audit/accounting appropriation; he also said the district spent about $37,000 in 2025 on a $46,000 budget, leaving a roughly $9,000 underrun.

Chair (presiding officer) said the insurance increase appeared marginal and the amendment "gets us through 2026," while board members discussed that the district may seek to recover the $9,000 from its partner jurisdictions to cover the remaining expenses for the year.

A board member moved to approve Resolution 2026-04; the motion was seconded and the chair announced the result as four yeas. The motion passed.

Next steps announced at the meeting included staff follow-up with partner jurisdictions about recovering the $9,000 and accounting for any forthcoming audit costs; the board said further cost shifts may be needed in the 2027 budget.

Additional details from the meeting: the transcript records the legal line reduction as going "from 15,000 to 5," which is ambiguous in the audio transcript and is flagged in clarifying notes; staff said a precise audit cost for the current year was not yet known.