IN Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall Spring 2020

Briefly Brentwood BOROUGH NEWS Borough Manager’s Message “The budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and aspirations.” – Jack Lew The fiscal year 2020 budget is a financial plan that will move our Borough toward achievement of its goals within the constraints of available resources. The budget document is a means for allocating the resources of the Borough to a variety of programs necessary to protect and enhance the community’s quality of life, increase economic development efforts, and maintain and develop Borough facilities and its infrastructure. Brentwood’s Financial Foundation Many cities around the country are faced with declining revenues, deteriorating capital infrastructure, and structural imbalances within their budgets, forcing reduced services, staff layoffs, employee benefit reductions and other drastic measures. Two years ago, a National League of Cities survey indicated that slightly more finance officers than the previous year were optimistic about the fiscal capacity of their cities in the coming few years. However, the level of optimism is still far below recent years. Furthermore, tax revenue growth is experiencing a year- over-year slowdown, with the growth in service costs and other expenditures outpacing it. Taken together, the survey results suggest that cities are approaching the limits of fiscal expansion. 1 ( 1 City Fiscal Conditions in 2018, National League of Cities.) When cities are forced to move from financial crisis to financial crisis, they are unable to strategically and proactively tackle the critical urban issues of today: infrastructure maintenance, workforce development, public safety and economic development. Brentwood, on the other hand, has been able to avoid these crises by building and maintaining a financially healthy organization. Yet in our effort to be financially secure, there is still more for us to do. The Borough needs to devote more time to the areas of long-term financial planning, capital maintenance and improvement programming, additional investment in economic George Zboyovsky, PE development and marketing strategies and continue its work with neighborhood, park and open space improvements. 2020 Fiscal Year Overall Budget Summary and Overview The Borough’s 2020 Operating Budget was adopted during the December 09, 2020 Regular Borough Council meeting. The below table is only an illustration of how “fast” the revenues from property taxes is exhausted by only a few of the Borough’s General Fund expenditure categories: Police Department Capital Improvements Debt Service Library Total 6.06 Mils 1.35 Mils 2.09 Mils 0.50 Mils 10.0 Mils $ 2,400,000.00 $ 534,000.00 $ 826,000.00 $ 198,000.00 $ 3,958,000.00 The cost of providing Police services alone nearly accounts for the total 10 mils of property tax revenue the Borough receives. The majority of the 2020 General Fund Operating Revenues are real estate and earned income taxes. The balance of the operating revenues is comprised of other taxes and other revenues. Such taxes consist of real estate transfer, public utilities, sales & use, and local service taxes. Other revenues consist of licenses and permits, fines, fees, rental & service agreements, parking meters, recreation fees, grants, and other non-tax revenues. If you would like to read the entire Borough Budget, it is once again available on the Borough Web Site www.brentwoodboro.com. General Fund revenues are projected to actually decrease $138,400 from 2019 Budget amounts of $9,033,400 to $8,895,000. This equates to a reduction of -2%. This is the third year in a row with the 2% decrease in the General Fund Budget. OFFICIALS OF THE BOROUGH OF BRENTWOOD 2020 MAYOR DENNIS TROY MEMBERS OF COUNCIL HAROLD SMITH, President Dennis Troy MAYOR 44 Harold Smith PRESIDENT John Frombach VICE PRESIDENT BRENTWOOD-BALDWIN-WHITEHALL JOHN FROMBACH, Vice President A.J. DOYLE, Pro Tem RICH SCHUBERT AJ Doyle PRESIDENT PRO TEM Pat Carnevale PASQUALE CARNEVALE ROBERT PASQUANTONIO JENNIFER GEORGE PAT CARNEVALE Jennifer George SOLICITOR GAVIN ROBB BOROUGH MANAGER GEORGE ZBOYOVSKY, P.E. Robert Pasquantonio Rich Schubert

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