CLEARFIELD – In a 6-1 vote, Clearfield Borough gave approval to the preliminary 2007 budget.
With both Fourth Ward Councilmen Barry Reddinger and Phillip Biancuzzo absent, only Third Ward Councilman Rodger Baumgardner voted against the $3.5 million budget.
Finance Committee Chairwoman and First Ward Representative Susan Reed said the borough budget was gone over “line by line.”
“We cut out everything we could cut out while still maintaining services,” she said.
The original draft of the budget showed it being about $119,000 in the red, but a review brought it down to a balanced budget.
Reed said an $8 per 1,000-gallon surcharge on sewer and a 1-mill increase on property taxes made the needed money a bit more balanced between property owners and renters and properties that pay “payments in lieu of taxes.” Previously, the water surcharge had been $6 per 1,000.
The surcharge increase will not be seen on customers’ bills until about July because of the Clearfield Municipal Authority’s billing cycle.
That increase is going to be used to pay down the debt on the sanitary sewer project.
“We just tried to do the best we could do,” Reed said, “but the money has to come from somewhere.”
This year, Reed said the borough has applied for numerous grants to offset costs. Some were approved, but others were not.
Baumgardner said he voted against the budget because the 2003 budget was $2 million, whereas the 2007 budget is at $3.5 million.
“I don’t see budgets anywhere going up that high,” he said. “I’m concerned that our spending got out of control.
“We should take a better look at what we’re spending on. … It seems like our spending is out of control.”
The budget will now go on display for the public and should be approved at next month’s council meeting.
