CLEARFIELD – Clearfield Borough Council held a special meeting Tuesday night in regards to reopening and discussing the 2024 budget, which was originally approved by council at the Dec. 21, 2023 council meeting and includes a 2-mill tax increase.
It was noted that 1-mill of that tax increase is to go to the Clearfield Volunteer Fire Department.
The meeting opened with public comment and resident Tony Yankevich asked to speak first, and since he was given the five minutes allotted to all public commenters, he referred to his written statement provided to council and the press and said he would begin with his final recommendation.
Yankevich said the tax increase “was not warranted and cannot be justified,” adding that it was prepared hastily and in a flawed budget format with many errors and no comparative data.
Additionally he said there was no discussion on how to reduce costs and avoid raising taxes. He referred to a budget he prepared and presented to council, which had an increase in total revenues of $163,000 and a decrease in expenditures of $19,000.
Two other members of the public also addressed council asking that the tax increase be reconsidered, with one noting that, as a landlord he is facing rising prices on every front and the tax increase will add an additional burden to his costs.
Once council voted to reopen the budget for discussion, council Vice President Stephanie Tarbay asked to read a statement, a copy of which was also given to the press.
Tarbay stated that rumors of a revenue surplus are untrue and that Yankevich input numbers “he has no claim for.”
She referred to items that increased much higher than council can expect to actually receive, including paid parking, Earned Income and Local Services taxes and delinquent taxes.
She also said that his expectation of expenses such as light, water and heat decreasing by $8,000 and engineering by $2,000 cannot be sustained because costs for everything continue to go up and the borough has projects where engineering will be necessary.
Tarbay then addressed American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding and that the funding received by the borough was publicly announced each time
She also noted that reports of how the formation and budgeting of the Clearfield Regional Police Commission have been incorrectly reported, adding that expected funding from grants through the state haven’t materialized.
After Tarbay’s statement, Council Member Barbara Shaffner noted some changes to the budget, including income from moving vehicle violations through the police of $25,000 and parking violations of $15,000 (both estimated) and an expenditure of retired police healthcare insurance of $57,000, which was mis-typed in the original budget.
Council then voted to pass the budget with the stated amendments and keeping the tax increase.