City Council members emphasize revenue growth for 2014

Landlords question tax hike as Council members say 2014 is year for change

By Kyle Carrozza, Staff Writer, The Times

COATESVILLE – Contention between City Council and local landlords continued at Monday night’s meeting, this time because of disagreements over the 37% property tax increase for 2014.

At the beginning of Monday night’s meeting, Council held a public hearing on the 2014 budget. Multiple landlords questioned if the city attempted to make cuts to prevent the need for increased taxes. David DiSimone said that if plans are made to grow the city, cuts have to be made to offset these expenses.

“It’s nice that you’re developing plans, but you have to make cuts,” he said.

Paul Edwards suggested that clever use of technology could also cut costs and suggested that the city create a panel to examine the use of technology at City Hall.

One resident said that she was frustrated because, like many people, her expenses are rising while her income is not.

“Our money’s not going up like the city budget is going up,” she said. “It would’ve been cheaper to add taxes for everybody, not just the homeowners.

City Council and administrators defended the decision to increase the property tax, saying this was the first time it has happened since 2005.

“Last time there was a property tax increase was 2004-2005. City Council has held the property tax down,” said City Manager Kirby Hudson.

They also said that they have worked to cut the budget. Hudson cited the fact that since the last time property taxes were increased, 22 employees have been cut from City Hall. Police Chief Jack Laufer said that the department has eight fewer officers and therefore fewer services. They also said that some of the trust fund money was allocated in order to lower the amount taxes had to be raised.

City Council President David Collins said that the increase in taxes should help the city pay for development, which could result in increased income for the municipality. This increased income could prevent the city from having to use trust fund money and increasing taxes in the future.

“The only way you’re going to increase revenue is to grow the tax base,” he said.

Council has already met with landlords once and agreed to have meet with them again after the holidays.

City Council ended up passing the 2014 budget later on Monday night. Council members stressed the development of goals and objectives parameters as an important part of the budget to ensure development.

Council Member Ed Simpson said that while he realizes that the city has been talking about development for years, he thinks that change will happen in 2014. He hopes that the 2015 budget does not need any trust fund money.

“Next year, it’s going to be the year of accountability,” he said. “Hopefully between now and the end of the year, we’ll come up with a lot of new ideas so that next year, we don’t have to depend on the trust fund at all.”

While many plans are still in the brainstorming phase, Simpson said that there are a number of ways to cut costs that he has been thinking about. He said that outsourcing menial tasks around City Hall and updating technology could make city employees more efficient and allow them to focus on larger city plans. Updating technology for the codes department, for example, could allow employees to file citations from their cars, rather than having to fill out paperwork at City Hall.

He said that he is confident the city will not be in the same spot next year.

“If there aren’t changes made, I’m done—but I feel confident that we will make these changes. They’re [City Hall staff] going to be held accountable,” he said.

On the topic of income, Monday night revealed the city may not be collecting all the income it could be.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, some questions from City Council Elect Marie Hess prompted a discussion of garbage collection fees. The discussion revealed that due to record-keeping discrepancies, trash is being collected on certain streets while fees are not.

The revelation prompted the tabling of an agenda item that would have increased solid waste collection fees. Though the 2014 budget has already accounted for the increase, council members said that they could not justify approving it until the situation has been investigated further.

Tuesday night’s meeting was the last for Council Members Jeff Loprinzi and Jarrell Brazzle.

Loprinzi said that the job was never easy, but he is glad he was part of the city’s direction.

“It’s been a challenging job. Thank you for letting me serve,” he said.

Brazzle thanked each administration member individually for their service. He also encouraged Marie Hess, who will be a member next year.

“I think this is going to be the perfect job for you,” he told her. “Don’t lose that fire that I once had.”