No Resolution for FC Budget Woes
Ford City Councilwoman Kim Bish and Council President Jerry Miklos attempt to calm a crowd when last night’s public meeting was cancelled due to lack of a quarum.
by David Croyle
A push by newly-elected council members in Ford City to reopen the 2012 budget and lower taxes stalled last night when not enough council members showed up to vote.
Only three of the six council members were in attendance. According to Solicitor Frank Wolfe, there would have to be four members in order to hold the meeting.
The line was clearly drawn between the new council members who were in attendance – Gene Banks, Kim Bish, and Jerry Miklos – and the previously-seated council members of Lou Vergari, Rob Mohney, and Paul Harmon who did not show up. According to Wolfe, Vergari had already discussed at last week’s meeting that he would be absent for a few weeks and Mohney had personal family reasons for not attending. Attempts to contact Harmon at the beginning of the meeting were unsuccessful.
After waiting for 15 minutes, Council President Miklos announced that the meeting would not take place. At that point, the live televised meeting became a press conference with members of the media as well as residents asking questions for the next 90 minutes.
Wolfe said that because of legal time restraints, the budget could not be changed now and would continue with the increase of two mills that was approved December 27, 2011 under the former council. Borough residents will pay 16.65 mills of tax yearly to help support the public library, fire apparatus, street lighting, retirement pension and general expenditures. One mill generates approximately $27,000, with total income and expenses both equaling more than $8.1 million.
Miklos apologized to the residents for not being able to reduce their taxes.
“This amended budget had to be approved and advertised by tomorrow (January 31). There is no way that can be done now with three members not showing up for this meeting. There is absolutely no question that our budget is not going to happen. What will happen is you will now see a two-mill tax increase which the previous council proposed.”
Miklos was disappointed that an amended budget could not be implemented that could have saved taxpayers’ money.
“I think we had a plan in place. We reworked this budget to the point that it was doable. We could have turned this thing around. Now we are facing an increase in taxes.”
The proposed changes would have cut one of the three borough secretarial positions as well as a street worker with the least seniority. It would have decreased a landfill fee by 40%, and repealed a two-percent wage increase for the Superintendent that will bring his salary to $45,900 this year.
Former councilman and fireman Ray Klukan engages in a verbal exchange with members of Ford City Borough Council last night at the Ford City Library.
The amended budget would have also taken away the 2.6 mills of taxes to the fire department for 2013 only, thus eliminating the source of revenue for firefighters. Firemen showed up at the meeting in numbers ready to fight, but Miklos assured them it would have no bearing on their current year budget or the purchase of the new fire truck that is to be delivered this summer.
“The fire account is fully funded to the tune of over $70,000 for the year 2012. There is absolutely no reason to implement or continue implementing another 2.6 mills. The payment on the fire truck this year is $45,000. Unemployment compensation for the fire department is $10,000. The fire department is charged $5,000 for utilities. If you add those figures up, you come to about $60,000. There is currently over $70,000 in that fire fund account.”
Former councilman and fire fighter Ray Klukan was very vocal as he raised a concern for future years. Bish tried to calm his fears.
“It’s not Jerry’s influence. I looked at the numbers and I believe we can swing this for one year. Because the payment is not due until June, and we got enough money in there for your workers compensation. We’ve got a little bit of $12,000 if something breaks, I think we can swing it this year.”
Bish reassured the fire department that the council was going to continue to support their efforts.
“The fire company and Ford City have a long history. Because we had a large industry area over there, the fire company has always had to be very, very strong to protect. Because we have generations of firemen in this town, I believe we all have a very strong feeling for our firemen. One of the things I do not want to see is animosity between the council and the fire department. You have got to understand that we’ve gotcha covered here for this year. And we will have you covered for the rest of the time. That has been our pledge to the fire company and we are not going to change it.”
Because of the tax increase going into effect this year, Miklos said the fire fund should see a fund balance of nearly $80,000 by end of 2012.
Bish concurred. “The firemen will have their 2.6 mills in the budget and will have an excess at the end of the year.”
Banks also had words for residents.
“On the third of January, we were handed a budget – a 2.2 mill increase. The Mayor brought up a word and said ‘whatever we do, we are going to do it humanely.’ So in those four or five days that we sat there and diced and sliced this budget, we tried to do it humanely. We visited the fire department. We visited the police department, the office workers, the borough workers. I even suggested to Jerry we give up our own salaries. Here we are in the 11th hour, and it looks like I am going to have to go up on taxes. I am very hurt. We were not going to hurt the fire department. You guys do a wonderful job. We’re a strong people. We’re a unified people. I think we can still get through this. I hope you see the three that are sitting here (that) we are concerned. And there is always a solution. We need your help.”
Miklos said he is still determined to cut excess spending and put the borough finances in a better condition.
“That doesn’t mean that we are going to stop looking for ways this year to reduce expenditures. We will continue doing that. Hopefully we will come out of this year with a surplus.”
The Mayor and three members of Ford City Borough Council addressed about 40 residents in attendance - mostly fire fighters - and a television audience during a 90-minute press conference about their desire to have an amended budget.
Ford City Borough | David Croyle January 31, 2012
By JohnK, January 31, 2012 @ 6:07 AM
Remember this at election time folks. Who bothered to show up and tried to lower the taxes, and who screwed everything up, stayed at home and pouted like a baby..
By Lancret, January 31, 2012 @ 6:18 AM
There should be no thought in this whatsoever, but there should be at least two resignations of council people completed by the end of this week. Costing the taxpayers more taxes, just because they want to play politics. This is not the time.
Resignations are in order…..if they do not occur, then the people need to demand them.
This was truly a shameful act.
By player24, January 31, 2012 @ 7:16 AM
I just can’t figure out how these 3 clowns (Vergari, Mohney, Harmon) keep getting elected. Any word on those Drug test results?
By suzkin33, January 31, 2012 @ 10:31 AM
@Lancret
HERE HERE! The best interests of the public? It’s ridiculous that they can act like children and think they should/deserve to stay in office. Kick ‘em to the curb. Let them go play monopoly with their own money.
By mad-2010, January 31, 2012 @ 10:34 AM
Your right JohnK. The people should vote (Vergari,Mohney,Harmon) out of office! This is a prime example of three Political Hacks at work. It’s Ironic that ex councilman Klukan is on the other side of the fence pointing fingers at the council.
By north end guy, January 31, 2012 @ 10:55 AM
A couple of them are the same way where they work,,for now.Doesn’t suprise me.
By newvoice, January 31, 2012 @ 11:01 AM
Often i do not agree with Mr. Klukan but in this case he is right….the previous council’s would use fireman funds to pay other bills and never put the money back.In 2008 the fund was set up this why to insure the people of Ford City’s fireman could always respond to calls and not worry if truck break downs would be paid for or how they were to even pay gasoline bills….. In 2008 it was discover previous councils failed to pay a bill for almost $14,000..and put repairs to fire truck in jeapordy.Ford City Library has a $85,000. surplus somewhere maybe they will let you borrow it.
By mad-2010, January 31, 2012 @ 11:21 AM
It doesn’t matter what past council did with the firemen’s fund. It’s what this present council chose to do with the funds at this time. How the funds were handled in 2008 is irrelevant.
By fcresident, January 31, 2012 @ 1:32 PM
Completely not right; especially on the last possible day. BUT, it is great to see Jerry in charge instead of getting kicked out of the meetings!
By JornJensen, January 31, 2012 @ 4:39 PM
Gene, Kim & Jerry – Keep on doing the right thing for the taxpayers of Ford City – keep on trying, you’re on the right track!
By Whispers, January 31, 2012 @ 5:25 PM
Oops! Look! newvoice pops up!
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
Only one thing to say to Mr. Vergari, Mr. Harmon and Mr. Mohney….
Resign!
Resign!
Resign!
The only thing to say to the citizens of Ford City:
Don’t let them get away with this. they are already working you all on a snow job with the ARC Manor issue. Go to the meetings and demand them to resign immediately. It is now quite clear that they are not working for the best interests of this town.
By Whispers, January 31, 2012 @ 5:28 PM
Oh and for newvoice:
You did not mention the CDC boogeyman in your post.
What are we going to do now and try swerve the public into focusing their attention on the library?
Come up with some better stuff….you are really getting to be very old and stale news.
The walls are coming down and you are running out of red herring to throw out there.
“Truth is marching is on!”
By Citizen64, January 31, 2012 @ 6:05 PM
Interesting! Let’s hope this behavior doesn’t continue or council won’t be able to conduct any kind of business. It is difficult to believe that three council people couldn’t attend this important meeting. It seems Mohney has a few too many family things going on to be on council. If he is that busy then perhaps he should give up his seat to somebody who doesn’t have so many family obligations/problems. The three absent council members owe the taxpayers of this borough some kind of explanation. Let’s see how they handle the money and if they are willing to lay off a couple of people to save the taxpayers some money. Since when did Ford City need three people in the borough office? Years ago there were two people who did all the work without the aid of modern technology. Face it folks, we don’t have PPG and Eljer now. That means the borough has to cut back somewhere. Thanks to Jerry, Kim, and Gene for trying.
By concernedcitizen, January 31, 2012 @ 8:27 PM
I applaud the new council members and shame on the old. What this town needs is open communication with it citizens. It’s about time the borough gets people to straighten out the way business is handled.Thanks Jerry,Kim and Gene. Keep up the good work.
By The Phantom, February 1, 2012 @ 7:45 AM
In all fairness to Mr. Vergari, He was on vacation. Most of us schedule vacations well in advance and they are not easy to cancel. It appears he WAS there at the meeting when the cuts were decided on. The other two were at NEITHER meeting!
By towniearm, February 1, 2012 @ 4:36 PM
the fire department should really consider not letting ray be their spokesperson. he is an embarrassment to the fire service. let cooler heads prevail and work with, not against. i certainly didn’t here 90 chief fly off the handle, good job scott!!
By wakeuppeople, February 1, 2012 @ 5:44 PM
the meetings were during the day i think and most people work what you want them to do call off work why wernt the meetings at night that right jerry didn’t want them there i bet
By gordon, February 1, 2012 @ 10:56 PM
you wanna talk embarrassment, how about a bunch of ADULTS hiding behind screen names. at least ray klukan is passionate about something decent in this slum of a town. if someone doesn’t stand up for what they believe in then what is there to stand behind. who are you going to call when it’s your house burning to the ground with all of your loved ones trapped inside. who are you gonna call when it’s your child pinned inside their car gasping for their life. consider that when you wanna take away the fire depts funds. NOW who’s the embarrassment?
By wakeuppeople, February 2, 2012 @ 7:28 AM
hey towniearnm maybe you should go join there fire dept you are the joke you can put someone down but i bet you never gave up sleep or a meal or a kids play. i didn’t think ray did a bad job and gordon you are right thank you for the nice words for the fire dept
By kimmyb, February 3, 2012 @ 12:56 AM
This is Kim Bish. Thank you for your positive feedback. Jerry, Gene, Lou and myself spent many hours workingon the reopened budget. When we voted to reopen the budget, there were two no votes. Every budget session was open to all council members to attend and comment and work on revising the budget, but onlythe above mentioned did. Mr. Harmon did attend one short session. The intention was not to hurt the fire department in any way, but to just keep a balanced budget and to give the taxpayers at least a one year reprieve. That fund is fully funded for 2012. Now that the tax was not suspended, there will be a surplus in the fund. I have already spoken with Fire Chief Scott Gaiser regarding some of the things we can do such as possibly changing the lighting in the fire garage to make it more energy efficient, especially since the fixtures will not be compatible with the new cfl bulbs required by the government after June 2012. This is only one good idea we came up with to utilize the extra funding which will result from the surplus in the fund as a result of the tax remaining in the budget. Another idea I propose is using a portion of the excess to apply towards the. principal of the loan. We are more than willing to work with the fire department, police and laborers, but we hope that everyone tries to understand that we will still be working to trim expenses as best we can. We intend to be fiscally responsible. Thank you for the feedback.
By kimmyb, February 3, 2012 @ 1:43 AM
Dear wake up people, the finance meetings were held three Wednesdays in a row at 4 pm and any member could have attended as they lasted approximately two hours. Yes, we did hold some in the day, because it was intense work. Just fyi.
By kimmyb, February 3, 2012 @ 1:46 AM
This is Kim Bish. Thank you for your positive feedback. Jerry, Gene, Lou and myself spent many hours workingon the reopened budget. When we voted to reopen the budget, there were two no votes. Every budget session was open to all council members to attend and comment and work on revising the budget, but onlythe above mentioned did. Mr. Harmon did attend one short session. The intention was not to hurt the fire department in any way, but to just keep a balanced budget and to give the taxpayers at least a one year reprieve. That fund is fully funded for 2012. Now that the tax was not suspended, there will be a surplus in the fund.
By newvoice, February 3, 2012 @ 7:28 AM
kimmyb……Want to collect some money for the tax payers…..COLLECT THE MONEY THAT PEOPLE ARE REFUSING TO PAY FOR FORD STREET….YES LEAN OVER AND TELL LOU TO PAY..and the 3 other businesses with leans…Let’s see if you really will do you job without favors.!
By ocean1, February 3, 2012 @ 9:18 PM
Alright now! Let me see if we can understand how this system works here.
I have watched for over 69 years and counting, and I have also voted for some of the finess people who say they can do this and that for the citizens of Ford City.
I have seen some things good and the bad out weighs the good. For you people to come in and want to change things, take a look in the mirror first.
The last council was not as bad as you think. At least they was out and about looking at the bad job the sewer project was, they had bad information from the Engineer and the council took action on him. Waste the money on the water plant grant by not doing what was to be done. Tax payers will be the ones who will feel that one. Don’t blame the last 4 years on the problems, look at the last 30 years. When PPG and Elgier was here no one person cared, because the money was here and no one even thought once about what was down the road. We have wasted away our time and money and our community.
I learned to listen and watch and form an opinion, before I speak. So here I go.
I see the new council ( not all of them, just one ) trying to undo everything that Mr. Lux, Mr. Ray and Mr. Dillard and the other 3 men look bad.
Shame on you Mr. Micklos, you have Rob, Lou and Paul that have 2 years with you on council . Have you asked them what you as council together can do. You are not helping by fighting with them, stripping them of the jobs they had. It shows me that you want to be a one man show.
You think the second time around you can do it right but you started out wrong already, work with the people. I read where it was like a bunch of clowns on T.V. and councilwoman Bish wasn’t wearing the suit.
You can’t continue to move forward if you are just looking at the past. If I was able to re-vote, You sir would not get my vote again.
The Mayor and you need to just stay home let people who can and want to fix the problems.
Run the bad landlords out of town, fix the roads and maybe we can get some business in town. Look out for the neighbprs like it use to be. Where are the Police, I see young new ones all the time but never the older ones, did you get rid of them too. Enforce the laws, I heard people owe the town lots of money for water, sewage and garbage. Collect the money that is owed to the town. If you can’t say something good about council, don’t say anything at all and maybe, just maybe you can get the rest of council to show up and help you make a decision that all citizens can be happy with.
I’ll feel better tomarrow and rant and rave again next birthday, if it doesn’t get better
By JohnK, February 4, 2012 @ 7:35 AM
Ocean1,
I’m sure Jerry would like to ask Rob, Paul and Lou for help but they aren’t around unless it’s something that’s important to them. They have been given a fair shot at making things better. They voted on the biggest tax increase Ford City has seen. Jerry comes in with a budget that has a decrease, the other 3 are home pouting like babies. I’ll take the guy who’s trying to help the taxpayers and who actually bothers to show up for meetings.
By Whispers, February 4, 2012 @ 10:32 AM
Okay, where to begin.
The first thing is ….NO…the current council should not even think about trying to learn anything from the old council members, especially Mohney and Harmon. They were involved with the problem from the past that put us in the condition we are in today.
The last council was horrible…the council before the even worse. They ran on transparency and growth and they failed on both accounts. Do not forget about those signs that were placed on both ends of Ford City and the names on those signs. Have we ever been exposed to so much scandal in a 5-6 year period within this borough? Did you forget how they tried to blow up the Sewage Authority and assign their stooges to the board seats? Do you remember who they put in charge of the Sewage Authority after the voters spoke out in the regular election? Do you remember how they purged all of the people who were on committees so that they could place yes-people on these committees to carry out their dangerous agenda? Do you remember them debating bills but refusing to give the citizens the information about what needed fixed and who was responsible for creating the problem? How about the electrical system on the reconstructed Ford Street? Do you remember them being threatened legally to be sued for not paying bills? How about the foreclosure of the building on the old PPG property? They gave it away and now look at the mess we are in trying to keep a D&A facility which will only hinder economic development in that location. How about their refusal to answer the questions from the citizenry? Come on, you may be 69-years old, but you have to be able to remember the classic posturing of sitting at the table with the arms crossed and looking blindly back at the citizens refusing to answer any questions. They were above that, because they believed that they were on some type of mandate.
Why in the world would Mr. Banks, Ms. Bish or Mr. Miklos rely on any input from Mr. Mohney or Mr. Harmon? What positive thing could they possibly learn from these two people? How to not show up and be absent for key and important meetings and votes? How to not only once but numerous times attempt to appoint cronies to various boards and committees? Learn how to squelch the voices of the public who pay the taxes?
I think Mr. Miklos, Ms. Bish and Mr. Banks would win in a re-election if the vote was taken today, and their election numbers would be even HIGHER, because of the path that they have chosen. They are peeling away years of muck and mire to bring some transparency to the issues.
I do think that the renting situation needs addressed immediately. I think the roads and alleyways need repaired as soon as possible. The two things listed about are key in improving the infrastructure in Ford City, so you are correct on those things.
I still think this council needs to look into an independent counsel. Somebody from outside the area.
And to be clear, I think we experienced one of the worst councils this town has ever seen historically in the past 4-5 years. Hopefully with this new council, we are moving on to a new direction of transparency, ending cronyism and letting the people participate in the democratic process.
By devitt, February 4, 2012 @ 3:06 PM
@ocean1
I am not getting it. Yes we should be undoing everything the last council did. Who put us in this mess? The last regime did absolutely to better this town. They continued to allow the dippy egg guy run amok and did nothing to separate themselves from his disastrous agenda. Look at how they flip-flopped Heritage Days. They got rid of supposedly bad management, but turned it over to worse management. Who did they pass it on to? It has gone from bad to pitiful. No more of the politics like we have seen over the last 5 years, please! New council members…..do not take any ideas from the old council members!!! None!!! Ford City will be much better if you keep that in mind.
By JornJensen, February 5, 2012 @ 10:09 AM
Ocean1 – You hit the nail on the head with “When PPG and Eljer were here’ ‘the money was here and no one thought once what was down the road.”
How does a 1.1 square mile town of about 3500 people support an $8.1 million annual budget without substantial industrial property and income taxes? You either cut government, costs and services or you tax the few that are remaining until they’re forced to leave. Most government bodies take the easy route – the latter.
And we wonder why the drug culture grows in towns like Kittanning and Ford City.