Borough Council Reviews $2.4M Draft Budget

A $2.37 million draft budget for 2012 was presented Wednesday by the Newtown Borough Council. The budget is slightly less than 2011 but increases taxes, according to officials.

"The work that we've done over the past several meetings, balancing expenses versus revenue, especially in the general fund, we made some good process," Councilmember Gerard O'Malley said. "But it came up short of where we need it to be."

Over the past few weeks the budget committee made cuts to reduce the budget by $130,000, but increased taxes by three mils. If this version of the budget passes, the borough's tax rate will be nine mils—a $129 increase for the average homeowner.

O'Malley, who is a co-chair on the budget committee, explained that what was presented on Wednesday, Nov. 9, was the third generation of the 2012 budget. He went on to say that big changes were made to get the budget where it is now and there's not much more that can be done.

"What we need to recognize, what I've said from day one since I joined the council, [is that] we have continued to see revenues to be flat [or] to decline and see expenses increase," O'Malley said. "We run the borough with essential expenses, police force, park and zoning. Beside the essential services, we pull back as much as we can. This is the solution."

Co-chair and councilmember Robert Walker echoed O'Malley's sentiment that they've retired all of their options to make any additional cut budget cuts.

"There's nothing further we can offer up than what we have," Walker said. "There's not any more surgery that we can perform that will change this."

The details of the proposed budget will be advertised for the public to review through Dec. 13. At that time, the council will discuss the budget in detail and vote on its approval.