Back to business as usual.....

 Well it appears borough council and the administration is back to business as usual. The public stays in the dark as to the happenings in their town. Meeting minutes haven’t been uploaded in a few months now for public view. The open meetings law requires meeting minutes to be taken for each meeting and posted for public view. We will look further if a specified timeline is required. Most other municipalities have no problem keeping these records up to date for their residents. Perkasie borough on the other hand does what it wants. 

Another issue that has been ongoing in the borough which is an unsolved issue still is on S 3rd and S 4th street. A traffic study was done as multiple residents showed up to a council meeting before the lockdown to express frustration for the amount of traffic and speeds on a secondary road due to people using it as a raceway, we mean cut through, to avoid a traffic light at Walnut and 5th street. Council in usual fashion appeared interested in the issue while having residents in front of them. The study showed over a two week period the volume of vehicles being 45,000 +!!!!!!!! This is a small secondary road in the borough. The borough council and administrations recommendation was to put up no truck traffic signs? No one that we are aware of complained about truck traffic. It was the volume of vehicles and speeds. But hey they represented the people and sprung into action right? Residents while pulling out in front of their residence have had vehicles plow into them, people have had mirrors taken off etc etc. Here we are over a year later and still nothing has been done and those no truck signs? Yea there are still large trucks passing through. Like everything else without enforcement and penalty no one will think twice. The Borough is always quick to pay a lawyer to draft up ordinances that they have no intention of enforcing anyway. 

Ladies and gentlemen let’s call this what it is. Taxation without representation. But we should not expect anything less from our representatives that open their borough packets 15 minutes before the meeting to read what they intend to vote on that evening . 

It’s time for a fresh start and new council members that are willing to put the time in that is required to do the job.  What we have seen so far are the next in line from the political parties that want to do the bidding of the party instead of the residents they serve. 

Stay tuned we have other matters we will bring forth as we continue to look out for the residents. Remember when Perkasie was quiet and peaceful before it was built up with subdivisions and building on any open piece of land?  Increased traffic, crime and wear and tear on our infrastructure. It has been proven before strength in numbers. It can easily be proven again. 

Perkasie First

How long before we get the bill?

Back in 2014-2015 many will remember when going to the Borough Hall seeing chunks of the cornice and roof falling onto the sidewalk. At that time a contractor was hired to come in and remove the cornice and assess the situation. Borough council stated at a public meeting that testing was done to determine how severe the damage was. Since that point the building has been sitting. 

Council claims the cornice area was sealed but it has sat through 4 winters now with no repair. So the question is when will we the taxpayers be getting the bill for the costly repairs? Better yet will we foot an even bigger bill for a new building since they seem to be letting this one sit in disrepair? Either way the taxpayer pays. Why has council been silent on this? 

This was brought up in public forum by a resident when they were charging ahead with spending over 200K the first time for a street sweeper and then 80k the most recent time which was a used machine with no maintenance records or warranty??!!! After that they spent 177k last year to redo the concrete retaining wall and parking lot out back of the building but no funds to fix the roof. Keep in mind this building was renovated in 2002-2003. 

Bottom line the residents will foot the bill the question is how much is it going to be? Maybe council should spend less time creating a historic committee to tell people what to do with their buildings and fix their own first. 

Until then we suggest wearing a hardhat when walking around borough hall. 
 

People of Perkasie it's been a while! We have not stopped watching out for the taxpayer even though we have not been very active on the blog. It appears we need citizen involvement again in the decision making and direction of our town. 

We have 4 candidates up for election on Borough council in 2019. Now is the time to start getting involved. If you or anyone you know is interested in serving your community please have them contact us. We have 1 seat that will be up for election in Ward 1, 2 seats in Ward 2 and 1 seat in Ward 3. If you are not sure what ward you are in please see the link below for the Borough voting ward map.

http://perkasieborough.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Perkasie_Voting-Districts-8.5-by-11.pdf 

 

Stay tuned for future blog posting about some of the things we are seeing happen in our town. 

Perkasie Borough starts walking down the same dead end road again

Leaders of 2 borough churches are petitioning Council for special electric rates.  Nonprofits request lower electricity rate in Perkasie Borough

We'll see if Council learned from their previous Sunshine Law violation that it can't discuss giving preferential treatment to any person, business, or organization in private.

Our town churches should allow Jesus to be their Light and not try to use government to force people to subsidize their collection plates.  Next time you attend a service you may consider dropping an LED light bulb in their collection plate.

Perkasie Residents approve increase in fire tax

In a referendum on the Nov 4, 2014 ballot Perkasie residents voted 1449-855 to approve a resolution as follows:

“Shall Perkasie Borough Council levy an additional real estate tax of 0.5 mills for the purpose of funding fire department services in the Borough? YES or NO”

Plain English Statement: The ballot question asks the voters of Perkasie Borough whether the Borough Council should assess an additional tax of 0.5 mills, bringing the total fire services tax to 1.5 mills for the purpose of funding fire and rescue services within Perkasie Borough. 

A vote of YES approves the levying of an additional real estate tax of 0.5 mills for this purpose.

Prior to 2005 there was no fire tax which begs the question "what has changed"?

When the fire company first approached Borough Council it was under the guise of funding a replacement vehicle, when it was pointed out that the current 1 mil of tax was funding a new vehicle that was going to be paid off within the next year a laundry list of "wishes" was produced by the fire company including a $52,000 suspended ceiling for the apparatus room, a $75,000 sprinkler system, a $55,000 walk-in cooler room, a $38,000 electronic entry system, and a $15,000 sign.  How exactly do these items intend to help our fire company protect the community?

The fire company held a public forum on August 14 to talk about the funding needs that was attended by a handful of residents at best.  They then held their annual open house on October 9th which was well attended- without any mention of the tax referendum and no opportunity to donate- not even a bucket!  Then on October 25 they held another open house to answer questions about the fire tax that had exactly 1 person attend- the mayor!  Why they did not take advantage of the traffic on their well-attended annual open house to raise awareness or funds defies logic.

Perkasie First fully supports our all-volunteer fire company.  Sadly, it appears that the "voluntary" portion does not apply to funding, and there is a desperate lack of outside the box thinking.  We encourage community members to get involved to help the fire company provide the outstanding service it does without resorting to more taxes to pay for it.  Educate the community on your needs and ask for help, as the Police Department has proven with their K-9 program the community is more than willing to step forward when asked to help and there are generous people with the means to do so.   After all- who knows how to spend your own money better than you do?

Other People's Money?

As 2015 Perkasie Borough budget discussions continue here are a few things that residents may be interested in:

• There is a $700,000 (or is it $800,000?) surplus in the general fund above and beyond the level that was voted on by a previous council to be in reserves.   This is essentially an "overpayment" that electric customers have paid over the past few years.  The question is will this money be returned to the people who have dealt with the 66% rate increase, or will it be spent?  Every $100K is an opportunity for a 1% reduction in electric rates- so borough residents and businesses could see a 7-8% rate reduction next year in electric costs.
• There are plans to hire 3 more borough employees.  Is this really necessary?
• Borough officials have claimed to have "cut" almost $1,000,000 in spending from the budget so far...but this is mostly the "wishlist" items of department heads and therefore not really cuts.   These include electric "smart meters" and a $275,000 street sweeper- that incidentally is being demonstrated at public works this morning (9/30/14) even though it has been cut from the budget (see below pic)
• The borough trash fee could double next year from $12 to $22 as less bags are sold.  The idea has been floated to give borough residents an option of having a toter but this idea received resistance from councilperson Florence Frei (215-257-7054) and Mayor John Hollenbach (215-257-7617) who prefer things stay as they are and not change with the times.

The next budget meeting is Saturday October 4th at 9am at the Borough building at Chestnut & 7th Street.  Will council treat your electric bill (tax) as they would their own money, or is it simply "Other People's Money"?    Do you want your electric rates to go down, or let the Borough keep spending your hard earned money?  You need to demand it.

The $275,000 street sweeper demonstrated at Public Works- will it stay on the cutting room floor or will it sweep more of your electric bill every month?  

Perkasie 2015 Preliminary budget

To the credit of the finance committee (Ryder chair, Krantz, Aigeldinger, Pizzolo, Stottlar) they began the budget process early this year and have already held 2 public meetings with department heads on July 28 (minutes) & Sept 3rd.

Observations:

• Dept heads were tasked with presenting 3% decreases in their budgets yet still came forth with wishlist items that were given consideration including $550,000 expense on electric "smart meters" and $75,000 replacement of pool slide, and $258,000 street sweeper  These 3 items have since been removed from preliminary budget as part of the claimed "almost $1 million reduction in spending" which is a duplicitous claim. 
• Preliminary 2015 budget is $5,435,934 which is an increase of 3.7% from last year.
• 10% increase in health insurance costs
• 13% increase in pension contributions
• indicated 34% increase in water & sewer rates from PRA

The finance director made it clear that spending had to be lowered because of an anticipated reduction in electric revenue from loss of a major consumer in the borough.  The borough is claiming some offset from new housing developments which may explain the council's vote to approve a zoning change for a new housing development in the face of 50 residents packing a meetings and saying emphatically NO.

At this time there is a surplus estimated for the general fund balance in excess of what is required of $810,041.  A comment by Aigeldinger was that that could be put to work elsewhere in the budget with perhaps a 3-4% decrease in electric rates.   Council members would be wise to realize that this is money that has been paid by electric users, and in the face of a 66% increase in 2008 that money should be returned to ratepayers in a rate decrease.  Every 1% rate reduction across the board is estimated to cost $100,000 so this amount could mean up to an 8% reduction in electric rates.  Borough electric customers should make their voices heard about what they think should be done with that excess!

Budget memo discussed at Sept 3 meeting below:

Note in the below figure that a $20,000 expense for the "economic development consultant" remains, even though no progress report has been given with an explanation of achievement towards goals.

Also of note is that the administration wants to add new employees to give the parks & recreation Director a raise to assist the borough manager.  The borough has functioned effectively without an assistant manager since January 1.

Much work remains and the council is reminded to sharpen their pencils and remember that the Borough operates for the residents of Perkasie.