$800,000 Shortfall Projected in Newtown's 2012 Preliminary Budget

NEWTOWN SQUARE–A rough draft of 's 2012 preliminary budget revealed a rough figure of an $800,000 shortfall at Wednesday night's budget workshop meeting.

, clarified that the the proposed budget for next year did not reflect the countys ratables in the presented budget on Wednesday evening–which are expected to come in on Nov. 15–but stressed that the supervisors would have to look at the revenue side of the budget to close the gap.

"Looking at this budget, you do not have an expense problem," said Fischer to the Board. "You can cut some expenses–it's not going to make a big difference unless you start lopping off a lot more people. You can cut supplies and do a little less road repair but it's not going to close an $800,000 deficit."

In the preliminary 2012 budget $7,025,605 has been drafted in revenues, while in 2011 the budget projected $7,008,629 in revenues and the year end total to be $7,042,092.

"There are not a lot of areas that you can cut unless you're cutting more people." –Larry Fischer, special assistant to the township manager

Fischer said the township has already made $150,000 savings in personnel, including benefits an approximate $300,000 in savings for this year alone.

"We're still bailing water out of the boat based on what the deficit was in the beginning of the year," said Trio.

However, the township will receive about $185,000 from the in land development/building permit fees. According to Fischer, the township never received or collected the $95,000 fee for 2011 from the school district and had received that fee as well as the fee for 2012 earlier this week. The township can also anticipate approximately $65,000 more in land development/building permit fees for the .

In addition, if the supervisors approve the land development application for Dellaporta then the township may see "several hundred thousand dollars" from building permit fees which the developer plans to begin developing in August of 2012 if approved.

Discussions of selling the Wyola School–the 1870 historic building previously known as Newtown Public School No. 1 off of Route 252/North Newtown Street Road–to were also laid out on the table. The proposed budget anticipates seeing $14,400 in revenue for next year's lease of the school.

On the expenditures side of the preliminary budget, the total projected amount that the township expects to spend in 2012 is $7,846,278, or a projected 4.88 percent increase over 2011's projected expenditure budget of $7,480,853. By the end of this year, the township expects to spend a approximately $300,000 under that amount of $7,181,363.

The largest amount of expenditures projected in 2012 ($557,600) fell in the "other" category, which related to the township's Municipal Authority. In the breakdown, the township expects to pay $250,000 to the Central Delaware County Authority's sewer network, $44,000 in the Aqua settlement, another $88,600 for the Municipal Authority's loan repayment and a proposed $175,000 to Upper Providence Township for the purchase of 103,000 gallons.

Chief Doug Simpson and Bill Baker, president of the fire company, also made their budget presentation before the board asking for nothing less than previous years. The township expects to see $1,158,312 in expenditures for fire protection/ambulance services, a decrease from 2011's projected year end expenditures of $1,277,683.

"We want the same as 2011 but more would be optimal," said Baker, noting that a surplus would be helpful so that the fire company would not have to ask the supervisors for more funding.

According to Simpson, due to day-time staffing issues the fire company had to bring on part-time supplemental staff, taking approximately $119,000 from their operating budget.

Supervisor Linda Houldin asked what the status of the ambulance contract was, in which Baker said a proposal was submitted to the ambulance company last Friday in hopes of getting a lower rate. By the end of this year, the total amount of ambulance expenditures are expected to be about $720,000 and are projected to stay around $700,000 for 2012.

Though it's "business as usual in 2012" for the fire company, Baker asked the supervisors for their help in obtaining the vacant parking lot behind the fire company and the in hopes of expanding their existing building someday.

"We need to desperately expand our real estate window," said Baker. "And this is the time window when we can do it. If it doesn't happen then over these years then we get stuck with that real estate footprint. The legacy–in terms of Newtown Square Fire Co.–will not be favorable and we have to get that. We need your help on that."

That parcel of land, according to Trio, is owned by developer Claude de Botton in which he may be holding off with that back parking lot due to a future potential business that may need additional parking.

"I think the owner wants to figure out what to do with that corner and if it needs parking," explained Trio.

Supervisors Chairman Joseph Catania also asked Marie Richards, township tax collector, on Wednesday evening whether or not a list or inventory of businesses were in place and how the township can confirm the numbers they report to the township were true.

Richards stated, "There’s no registration for businesses. You don’t know how many employees a business has—that business tells me they have 10 employees but they could have 50."

But Supervisors George Wood and Dr. Lambert both believed that the information was obtainable and should be utilized in inventorying businesses in town. Vocal Newtown resident Patti Wilson also questioned the low number of reported employees in the township and was later asked by Catania if she would aid Richards in creating the list of businesses and its employees which she agreed.

Overall, Trio stressed the need to look at more alternatives in revenues and not just expenditures. "We need more direction from the Board for more reductions or additional opportunities of revenue."

The next budget workshop meeting for Nov. 9 has been canceled and rescheduled for Nov. 21 in order for an updated preliminary budget after the county ratables have been accounted for.