Greensburg councilman suggests 2024 budget with no tax hike, delay in capital spending decision

Greensburg Council’s accounts and finance director is recommending the city consider a bare-bones 2024 budget that would hold taxes steady, while waiting until spring to decide what capital projects to pursue.

Councilman Randy Finfrock, in an early budget discussion this week, said Greensburg could be looking at a reduction next year of about $250,000 compared to the total of just under $13 million in this year’s spending plan. That’s if the new budget focuses primarily on covering operational expenses.

“Normally, we put all the capital projects in the budget and then figure out how we’re going to pay for it,” Finfrock said. “This year, we have a couple of ways to go.”

Finfrock said the proposed 2024 budget, which will be formally introduced in November, likely will include additional clubhouse amenities at the city-owned Mt. Odin golf course, hiring of an additional full-time staffer in the planning department and purchase of a replacement police car. The updated police cruiser is among several years’ worth of spending on public safety vehicles the city is funding through a $1 million loan approved in December 2021, and a 1-mill tax hike approved then to pay off the debt.

Also, the budget will take into account projected increases in costs for insurance — as much as 10% for medical insurance and 7% for property coverage.

Finfrock suggested council wait until next spring to decide on capital spending and how to pay for it. By then, he said, the city should know which, if any, of its three applications have been approved for funding projects with gambling revenue — distributed on a competitive basis through the state Commonwealth Financing Authority’s Local Share Account.

The city has applied for Local Share Account grants totaling more than $590,000, to cover several priority projects and purchases: improvements to City Hall and other city-owned buildings; two replacement police vehicles; and public works equipment, including a new front loader and an additional box for collecting residents’ fall leaf waste.

“We may get all three, or we may not get any,” Finfrock said of the funding applications. “We’re not going to know that until spring, so they’re not going to be in the (2024) budget.”

If those grants don’t come through, he said, the related projects may have to take precedence over other proposed capital spending, as council considers additional funding options.

Another big-ticket item being considered, he said, is about $300,000 worth of preventive maintenance to the city’s Robert A. Bell Parking Garage on West Otterman Street.

In September, council approved a second round of repairs to concrete that has been affected by water and weather exposure at the city’s smaller Dr. Robert W. Queale parking garage on Maple Avenue. The total cost for that work and earlier emergency repairs, which caused partial closure of the two-level garage, is expected to be about $195,000.

Learning from that project, Finfrock said, city officials are hoping to stay ahead of any problems at the five-level Bell garage. Greensburg previously spent more than $681,000 in 2016 to repair and rehabilitate the 1990s structure, which at that time had cracking concrete.

Finfrock said maintenance of the Bell garage could be delayed for a few years. But, he said, “We’d like to get ahead of the game.”

He noted the garage’s top level is closed during winter months so the concrete surface won’t be exposed to the damaging effects of snow and ice removal.

“We would like to be able to use all the floors all year round,” he said.

Options for funding projects in the spring could include taking out an additional loan and tapping a $300,000 sinking fund surplus to help pay off the capital debt, Finfrock said.

“I’m not opposed to borrowing money in the spring, when we see where we are,” he said. “There’s no sense of urgency that we have to borrow money now.”

He said later, “At the end of the day, everything will be paid for. If we don’t have the money, we won’t do it. We think we can go a long time with no tax increase.”