Financial Advisory Committee Meets in West Chester

The West Chester Borough Financial Advisory Committee met on Wednesday, and because I don’t know how to parse what happened into a news story that would make any kind of sense, I am going to use some trusty old bullet points.

• The financial advisory committee has been charged by borough council to make recommendations to increase the borough’s financial health.  Council originally appointed the committee to take a look at the 2012 budget, but many of the borough’s financial problems will require long-term solutions.  However, the committee will make suggestions to council for both the short-term and the long-term.
• Like all government financial issues, it all boils down to the tradeoff between services and taxes.  The committee is looking into ways to make those trades in a way that makes government efficient and sustainable (them and every other government, thanks for the insight, genius).  Words like outsourcing and privatizing were thrown around, basically anything that could save money, but not decrease service.
• Education came up a lot at Wednesday’s meeting.  People need to know what they are paying for.   An example used was street sweeping.  Street sweeping might seem like an unnecessary luxury in the borough; however, street sweeping is vital to keeping storm water treatment costs down.  The committee believes that residents need to have a better understanding of how their tax dollars are spent so that they really understand what kind of cuts or changes are being made to services.
• The biggest problem the borough faces (along with every other government entity) is pension plans.  The burden of cost for pensions for the borough has increased 200 percent in the last 10 years, while state contributions have only gone up 36 percent.  In real dollars, the cost of pensions for borough employees has jumped by about $900,000 in ten years, while state contributions have only increased by about $130,000.  At this rate, borough tax dollars will only be able to support pension contributions and no services.
• As one committee member put it, “the borough needs to understand what business it wants to be in.”  The current level of service is unsustainable, and the borough has limited avenues for revenue generation outside of property tax increases.
• The committee is looking into revenue options.  They include: more parking meters, automated pay stations for parking, a tax on liquor sold in the borough, parking garages and lots and storm water fees.
• I should mention that the committee has no authority to enact any policy; they are simply making suggestions that borough council could or could not act on.