Ridley Park approves 2013 budget amid assertions of ‘inaccuracies’

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Comment by RidleyParkOnline on January 21, 2013 at 9:21am

Barbara Ormsby filed this story for DelCo NewsNetwork as Controversy continued over the 2013 final budget adoption.

   Council gave approval to the final budget showing total expenditures of $3,666,553 and keeping the tax rate at the 2012 rate of 7.79 mills, or $7.79 for each $1,000 of assessed property valuation. Council Members Jared Brennan and Sue Murtha voted against the final document.

   The sewer fee will remain at $322 per unit and the trash fee stays at $231 per unit.

   Council also voted to apply for a tax anticipation loan of $200,000 to tide the borough over until tax revenue begins to come in 2013. Interest rates will be solicited from various banks so council can make a decision on the lender.

   The loan passed four to two, with Council Members Brennan and Murtha voting no.

   After the meeting the two council members contended that the 2013 budget is not balanced and contains “inaccuracies.”

   “Our vote was not against no tax increase, but against the figures in the budget because the budget is not balanced. We want the taxes not to go up,” Brennan said.

   Murtha contended that there was no resolution to fund the minimum municipal obligation payment for the police pension fund and no resolution for the tax revenue anticipation note.

   Contacted after the special budget meeting, council Finance Chairman Jim Glenn said he believes the budget is balanced.

   "I had no comment (about the budget) from them (Brennan and Murtha) until last night's meeting," Glenn said. "For 24 days they had copies in their hands and never asked a question."

 Berger said budget figures are accurate and it was the mission of council "not to bring figures out of the sky."

   "The in-fighting needs to stop," Berger said. "We have to come together for the common good of Ridley Park."

   In other matters, council approved the leasing of a backhoe for four years at a cost of $79,800 as a lease purchase plan, and voted to change the time for the telecommunications committee meetings to 7p.m. the second Tuesday of the month.

Comment by Suzanne Murtha on January 3, 2013 at 11:46am

Very well stated Jared! We also have the email from out manager on December 14th stating," finance will be working right up to the meeting (18th) as they get information in." The email is shown below.

Bob, Jim and the current administration have decided that they will select who is given information and when it will be received. They have decided to ignore the election process and the people of our town who have placed you and I in office and forward their own agenda. The truth will always prevail!

 

From: Manager Ridley Park Borough [mailto:manager@ridleyparkborough.org]
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 10:39 AM
To: Sue Murtha
Subject: Re: budget

 

Not yet Sue. Finance will be meeting right up to Tuesday as we continue to get information in.

On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 9:33 AM, Sue Murtha a href="mailto:stmurtha@comcast.net" target="_blank">stmurtha@comcast.net> wrote:

Dawn,

Jim mentioned you were tweeking the budget.

Is there a copy in our boxes?

Sue

As for pulling numbers out of the air Mr. Berger what in the true figure for the Minimum municpal obligation. It is a very rare occurance that it would be an even number such as the $90,000 since an actuary gives us an exact figure. Did we get a figure in September? We typically have to pass a resolution for the MMO, why wasn't that done. WIll our payroll be legal without the resolution? How about the PURTA; same figure from last year...where is the letter stating the exact amount? Fireman's relief fund?? same number as last year? In the history of receiving funds they're never the same. I could go on. That is only page 2.  One of my biggest concerns is the sewer and trash. Our solicitor was not there to question and in the past we always had an ordinance approving the fees...even though they remained the same. Is that something that has changed? Should that have been advertised and passed? Did we do all of the proper advertising for next year? Was the paperwork sent to DCED? Maybe if you were not "politically posturing" (as Jim Glenn claims) then the Borough residents could rest knowing their tax dollars were in good hands. With the current majority that remains to be seen.

 

Comment by Kenneth Harper on January 3, 2013 at 11:16am

This is the kind of transparency in our local government that the residents of Ridley Park want to see.  Residents have the right to see how the councilors that we elect do their jobs.

Thanks Jared for doing this for all the residents.

Comment by Jared Brennan on January 2, 2013 at 9:52pm

Howard,

Thank you for posting this article.  I think it is time for the truth to be told again.  The President and Vice President are following the lead of the (3M club) Republican Party leadership and most of the committee people who continue to come forth and try to slander anyone who questions their inability to prepare a budget AND lead the borough.  Mr. Glenn has a bad definition of mathmatics because he states in the newspaper that we had the budget for 24 days and he heard nothing about it.  Please view the actual email that Jim Glenn sent to all of council (BELOW).  On December 17 or 18 and Decembe 26 we were given revised budget copies.  Then we received the final copy.  Note the date and time:  December 26 at 9:50pm.  Is that 24 days before December 28, or 24 hours?  Once again Mr. Glenn sits up on his high horse and ivory tower looking down on everyone.   JIm never defends his budget when asked defining questions, only says it is balanced, and now reverts to inaccuracies and fabrications.  Can't wait to question him in the January televised meeting.  Now there is an explanation why he could not prepare a budget after viewing what 24 days means.

 

----------Original Message----------

From: Jim Glenn <jglenn614@hotmail.com> Date: Dec 26, 2012 9:50:40 PM Subject: final revision to budget To: Bob Berger <bergerbob@msn.com>, Jared Brennan <jared.brennan@verizon.net>, Sam Snow <slmeglino@yahoo.com>, Hank Eberle <henryeberle@gmail.com>, Holly O Mahoney <hollyomahoney@gmail.com>, Paul Mattus <pjmattus@gmail.com>, Sue Murtha <stmurtha@comcast.net>, Dawn Human <manager@ridleyparkborough.org>

The latest revision of the 2013 budget including the TAN is in everybody's box. See you Friday.
Jim

----------------------------------------------

Mr. Berger, maybe if you would respect other councilors and stop the personal attacks that your Republican party spews on a monthly basis, then the fighting would stop.  Please do not consider me a part of your Republican Party.   I am a Republican but have no affiliation with the divisive group of people that are in your circle of smoke screens.  Start telling the truth to the residents and practice what you preach.  I've noticed one characteristic of Bob:  He is a great "Rah-Rah" cheerleader and actually believes that what he says in the newspaper is what he practices.  The "figures that were brought to the budget were not from "out of the sky", but they were plagiarized from the 2012 budget.  This finance committee never explained what figures they used.  Just look at last years budget and the proof is evident how this budget transpired.  Copy and paste was the theme.

Next lie that needs to be addressed:

Mr. Berger and Mr. Glenn are bold faced liars about a "comment" that Sue made in the December workshop meeting about wanting the budget process to fail.  Not surprising, Jim and Bob are doing the same thing that the "so called" Republican leadership is doing.  Lying and deceiving the public.  Sue and Dawn had a personal conversation (in Dec workshop) about failure and NEVER did Sue say she wanted the "budget process to fail".  I cannot believe that these two would stoop this low and flat out lie to the newspaper, it is despicable and repulsive.  Can't wait to hear the replies at the January televised council meeting when they are confronted about these outright lies!  The only thing "common" that Bob and Jim convey are habitual lies and childish behavior.

 

Jared Brennan