2024 Budget

The City of Dubois will not be raising taxes in 2024 if the presented budget and tax plan reach final passage unchanged.   Tuesday night was the first reading of the two city ordinances that cover both the tax rate and budget.  Before it becomes official there remains two more steps:

• Public hearing one and Second reading: 5:50 p.m. on Dec 11.
• Public hearing two and final passage: 5:50 p.m. on Dec 26.

The tax rate will remain at 23.5 mills with the millage rate set to $2 per $100 of assessed property value.            

The total millage is broken up into two groups:

• 20 mills – Goes to the City’s general fund and bond sinking fund.
• 3.5 mills – Goes towards the City’s general fund, the DuBois Public Library, and the City’s recreation fund. 

This tax rate will bring in $1.137 million of the expected $9.238 million revenue in 2024.

The full budget is available on the City of DuBois’ website.  Here is a direct link to the full current budget: https://duboispa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Proposed-2024-Budget.pdf.  If the budget is updated it should be posted on the City’s Finance Department page: https://duboispa.gov/city-departments/finance/.

The General Fund is expected to total $9,238,311.  Expenditures from the General Fund are projected to be $8,341,277 with the expenditures from the Genderal Fund Capital Budget coming to $897,034.  Combined revenue and expenditures are projected to break even for $0 net money for the City.

Property Registration – Council Bill No. 1975

            The City Council of DuBois made their first attempt at a rental property registration ordinance since 2016.  The nearly decade long effort to get something like this passed in DuBois has three goals:

• Help battle abandoned properties by creating a continuously updated list of property owners and how to contact them.
• Help battle blight by creating a continuously updated list of property owners and how to contact them when working with the tenants isn’t productive.
• Help local fire and police departments know roughly how many people may be in a building when responding to fires or crimes.

The core issue over the years for the City of Dubois, and other regional governments, is nobody knows who owns what building.  There are people and organizations listed as the owner of the property, but there’s a reoccurring trend of nobody being able to find a way to contact these owners to resolve issues before they escalate.  Most of the ordinance is about resolving this.

Requirements in the ordinance:

• An annually renewed license will be needed to rent a property out in the City of DuBois
• Renewal requires either the owner or their agent to provide their name, address, and telephone number.
• If an organization like a corporation, LLC, a trust, etc. is the owner then the directors, trustees, etc. behind those organizations must be named. 
• If the property owners do not live in Clearfield County they will be required to have someone who lives in Clearfield County be their local point of contact.
• The license requires the building’s address
• The number of units, apartments, in the building must be declared.
• The names and how many people are living in each unit must be declared and updated annually.
• City code enforcement employees can inspect a property before a license is given.
• Any building that is vacant for 45 days must be reported as vacant.
• There is a renewal fee.  Unpaid renewal fees will be placed as liens against the property.

“You don’t know who lives in my house.  Why should you know who lives in my rental houses?” said Councilmember Pat Reasinger.

Reasinger questioned both the documenting of who lives in every rental within the City of DuBois and inspecting every building.  With 2,500 rental properties within the City, according to Reasinger, he estimated it would be a full time job to do the inspections even if only 500 happened a year.

Code Enforcement Officer Zac Lawhead agreed.  If the ordinance passed it would potentially need new hires and overtime for himself.  Lawhead asked that, if passed, the renewal fees be high enough to cover these increased costs.

“I am sure it is going to be at least a three year rotation if one person is doing it,” said Lawhead.

The documenting of who lives in each rental unit has usually been justified on the grounds of helping the DuBois Volunteer Fire Department over the years.  Reasinger questioned how effective it would actually be in practice.

“If the fire department sees six people they don’t stop looking.  They keep looking,” said Reasinger.

He added other scenarios where the reported tenant counts would be off.  Maybe the renters areout somewhere when the fire happens?  What if a whole group of people are visiting and are sleeping in the basement when the fire breaks out?

DuBois Police Chief Blaine Clark said that the rentor registration would be useful for the police department on two grounds.  Knowing how many people are in an apartment would help with planning if the police ever needed to go into said apartment.  Knowing the names and home of every renter within the City could help DuBois Police find wanted individuals by visiting the apartments of known acquaintances of the wanted individual.

The council passed the first reading 4-1 with Reasinger being the sole vote against.

There will be a public hearing scheduled before the second reading.

City Mayor Ed Walsh’s Final Meeting           

Walsh announced at the end of the meeting that this was his final meeting.  He will be unable to attend either of the two December meetings.  As of January 1, Councilmember Pat Reasinger will be the new City Mayor of DuBois.  Walsh had been a member of the City government for twelve years as Mayor and Councilmember.           

Walsh admitted the last eight months had been rough, but through it all the Council had held itself with dignity.  He was proud to have served with them and wished them luck going forward.