City Council

1 Borough of Akron Council Meeting-September 18, 2023 2 3 Council Members Present: Nathan Imhoff, President; Justin Gehman-Vice President, Kleon 4 Zimmerman, Paul Swangren, Jr., Ryan Cochran, Bonnie Young. 5 6 Others Present: Mayor John McBeth, Susan Davidson, Borough Manager; Sean Molchany, Asst 7 Borough Manager; 8 9 Visitors: 10 John Taylor, 216 S 8th St Akron 11 Thomas Murray, Jr-219 S. 11th St Akron 12 Tom Burnett 724 Fulton St. Akron 13 Sue Glick 119 S. 10th St. Akron 14 Chris Beiler, Akron 15 16 Roll Call 17 Kleon Zimmerman-present 18 Paul Swangren, Jr-present 19 Ryan Cochran-present 20 Tonya Haynes-absent 21 Bonnie Young-present 22 Justin Gehman Vice President-absent 23 24 Nathan Imhoff President-present 25 Mayor John McBeth-present 26 27 The meeting opened at 6:05 pm with the Pledge of Allegiance. 28 29 Visitors/Comments from Public 30 None 31 32 Zoom 33 None 34 35 Susan Davidson opened the meeting by stating the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the 36 proposed 2024 Budget. 37 38 Davidson stated that a Draft of the General Fund, Sewer Fund, Water Fund, Liquid Fuels and 39 Capital Budgets were distributed to Council and the Mayor for review over the weekend. 40 41 Davidson reviewed the Proposed Sanitary Sewer Fund with the Council. The increases to this 42 fund are as follows, Health Insurance increase of 5%, Power was increased based on to date 43 numbers, The Borough has not received Budget cost from Ephrata Borough, so the Budget 44 amounts reflect the same as last year. 1  1 2 It was asked what the current sewer rate was, and Susan Davidson said it was $15.25 per 1,000 3 gallons. Mrs. Davidson said total proposed expenditures are $991,166.00 with a net fund 4 balance of $15,049.00. 5 6 Paul Swangren,Jr. asked for the personal percentage breakdowns. Mrs. Davidson stated she 7 would send them to him via email. There were no further questions from the Council or 8 visitors. 9 10 Susan Davidson presented the proposed Water Fund. 11 12 Susan Davidson was asked by Mr. Zimmerman if we could move the standpipe lease monies to 13 the water fund since the leases were for the water tower. Mrs. Davidson moved all the lease 14 monies to the Water fund which made the new revenues for the fund $593,610.00. 15 16 At 6:35 pm Justin Gehman joined the meeting. 17 18 Davidson indicated that the notable increases are for salaries, Health Insurance, Lab Testing, 19 Street Repairs, Gasoline. Pumping and Control Maintenance is also up but it is offset by a grant 20 received in the revenues of $7,500. 21 22 There was a brief discussion about raising the water rates for 2024, staff suggested a rate 23 change to $8.50 per 1,000 gallons. 24 25 Nathan Imhoff suggested $7.75, and Ryan Cochran suggested $8.50. Mrs. Davidson plugged in 26 a rate of $8.00 and the net Fund Balance was $9,600. 27 28 Nathan Imhoff asked Davidson to keep $8.00 in the budget as a placeholder and asked Council 29 to review for future discussion. 30 31 Davidson reviewed the Highway Aid Fund. There is no proposed expenditure for 2024 and the 32 Net Fund Balance is $175,834.00. 33 34 Davidson reviewed the General Fund and indicated staff is not proposing a tax increase for 35 2024, then reviewed the revenues of the fund. She pointed out the increases in Building Permit 36 revenues and for Earned Income Tax, Engineering and inspection reimbursements and Grant 37 Reimbursements. She zeroed out the Water Tower Lease since it was moved to the Water 38 Fund and indicated that we should have an accurate number for the MMO for the next Budget 39 meeting. Total proposed Revenue is $1,990,781. 40 41 Davidson then presented the expenditures. Mr. Imhoff gave a brief summary of the meeting 42 he and Bonnie Young had with the library. He indicated they met with Abigail Balmer, Interim 43 Director. They spoke about the Boroughs concerns of the past and would like to mend the 2  1 relationship with the library under new leadership. He also indicated that the library will be 2 present at the October 9, 2023 meeting for a presentation. 3 4 It was requested that staff send Ms. Balmer the funding letter that was sent to the library 5 regarding funding. 6 7 Nathan Imhoff indicated he would like to fund the requested amount. Kleon Zimmerman 8 stated he would consider the State recommendation of $4.00 per capita. Paul Swangren, Jr. 9 and Bonnie Young expressed their concern with the 2024 Library funding request. 10 11 The current Net Fund Balance as proposed shows a deficit of $53, 534. Nathan Imhoff asked 12 how much we need to raise taxes to cover the deficit. Susan Davidson indicated that a tax 13 increase from 3.0 mils to 3.3 or 3.35 mils would be needed to cover the deficit. It was 14 suggested by Mr. Cochran to put in 3.3 mils as a placeholder. 15 16 Sean Molchany reviewed the Capital Budget by reviewing all the proposed Capital Projects. Mr. 17 Molchany indicated that the Inlet repair at 451 9 th Street and Standpipe inspection should be 18 completed in 2023 and will be removed, he also indicated that the I & I work proposed for 19 Roland Park is an estimate and should receive a quote this week and expects it to be a lower 20 number. Mr. Molchany stated that he estimates the Proposed Capital Budget to be in the 21 $330,000 to $350,000 range for 2024. 22 23 Adjournment -Motion to adjourn at 8:35 pm by Paul Swangren, Jr. second by Justin Gehman 24 Motion carried. 25 26 Respectfully submitted, 27 28 Susan Davidson 29 Borough Manager/Secretary 3