Allentown City Council looks to extend budget process, prevent default tax hikes

Future Allentown mayors no longer would be able to run out the clock on City Council to raise or cut taxes if some current Council members get their way.Council President Roger MacLean, along with colleagues Julio Guridy and Ed Zucal, proposed a referendum question Wednesday that would ask city voters to amend the Home Rule Charter so neither a tax hike nor a tax cut could go into effect by default.Those three, plus Councilwoman Candida Affa, also proposed another charter amendment. It would require the mayor to deliver an initial proposed balanced budget by mid-October, or 15 days earlier than what’s currently required. The proposed changes come less than six months since Mayor Ray O’Connell vetoed Council’s amended 2019 budget seconds before midnight Dec. 15, thwarting a veto override and ensuring his spending plan — and its 27% property tax increase — went into law.According to the city’s charter, Council must adopt a budget by Dec. 15. If Council misses that deadline, the mayor’s budget becomes official.“Hopefully these will prevent us from having to be here at midnight on a Saturday again,” MacLean said. Both proposed amendments were referred to Council’s budget and finance committee with little conversation. MacLean urged all his colleagues to attend the committee meeting June 12. If Council approves the amendments, the referendum questions would appear on the general election ballot in November. O’Connell’s 1.5-mill tax increase was the first in 13 years, and he argued it was necessary to address structural deficits and replenish dry reserve funds. A majority of Council had hoped to reduce that increase by a quarter mill, to about a 22 percent hike. For someone who owns a $150,000 home with $20,000 in land value, the savings would have been around $42 annually.Flashback: Allentown mayor vetoes budget just before midnight, thwarts overrideThe proposed charter amendment would favor the status quo in times of deadlock. If Council failed to adopt a budget by Dec. 15, tax and fee rates would remain the same. If the mayor had proposed a tax hike to balance the budget, Council would cut from the mayor’s proposed expenditures on a consistent basis across every line item except for expenditures mandated by law, such as debt service. If Council failed to adopt a budget by the deadline and the mayor had proposed cutting taxes, the surplus revenue would be placed into each fund’s reserves. “This creates a level playing field,” Zucal said. “I absolutely believe the citizens of Allentown will jump at the opportunity to vote for this.” There’s something wrong about tax hikes going into effect by default, MacLean added. “The administration and Council should have to work together to come up with an acceptable budget,” he said. “Hopefully the time extension gives us more room to get to that point.” City department leaders must submit proposed budgets to the mayor by October, or 90 days before the ensuing fiscal year. If the second charter amendment passes, the mayor would now have about two weeks instead of a month after that department deadline to submit a proposed budget to Council. Paul Muschick: Allentown budget process needs an overhaulBut both O’Connell and MacLean, a retired Allentown police chief, agreed that shouldn’t be a problem given that departments start working on spending plans with the mayor in July.And while the default budget amendment would somewhat diminish his leverage during a contentious budget debate like the last one, O’Connell avoided expressing any misgivings. “I think there will be amendments to both bills, and whatever washes out goes to the voters, and then the voters decide,” he said. “I’m fine with that.” Morning Call reporter Andrew Wagaman can be reached at 610-820-6764 or awagaman@mcall.com
Source: Morningcall