LOCK HAVEN — City Council will get a comprehensive look at a proposed 2019 budget at Monday night’s meeting.

And City Manager Gregory Wilson said he sees no need for an increase in property, earned income or business privilege taxes to fund government expenses.

There will be “no increase to real estate, earned income or business privilege tax” in the general fund, his preview to City Council reads.

What the city is asking, however, is that employees pay more for health insurance as the city absorbs an 8 percent rise in premiums.

Wilson intended to have a detailed budget in council members’ hands this past week for their review.

Three budget hearings will take place: Monday night, Dec. 3 and 10.

Dec. 17 is the scheduled date for budget adoption.

Wilson’s summary does not detail costs by department or expense. It does preview changes to the general fund, liquid fuels, water, sewer and airport funds.

“The general fund is about 65 percent wages and benefits. It’s the heaviest of all the major funds,” Wilson said. “That’s because people are the doers (so) the general fund is not as reliant on equipment and infrastructure like sewer and water are. It has lower operational percent to total.”

In 2019, he said the city will see an 8-percent increase in health-care insurance premiums.

The city had averaged about 4 percent more for insurance costs per year, but 2018 was “an unusual year,” and that’s reflected in 2019’s premiums, he said.

“To offset this increase the employees of the city are being asked to contribute toward their health and dental coverage at the rate of 6-percent per year,” he offered.

On the flip side, Wilson’s budgeting a decrease in governmental administration costs, from 27 to 15 percent.

And while costs for public safety – the city police department – will remain consistent at 51 percent, public works will see an increase of 10 percent, largely because of the allocation of health and dental costs to individual departments.

A major change involves the allocation for capital projects.

Typically, council would allocate money for capital projects during the budget process, Wilson said. Instead, a flat amount of money will be placed into each of the majors funds but will not be given a specific allocation until March of 2019, he said.

“Each budget in the major funds will include a line item that allocates that money now. It won’t exactly say what it’s for. It will say X dollars that will go into that fund. In March, you (council) will consider how you (council) want those funds actually allocated out for the year,” he said at council’s Nov. 5 meeting.

Wilson said that kind of approach works well due to the city not purchasing things until after March anyway.

“We don’t buy anything until after the taxes start coming in … this aligns with that pretty much perfectly,” he said. “This will provide the opportunity in each budget for that incumberance to be there, but whether or not that is actually spent will be up to you (council) in the month of March.”

If the money that is allocated into each project is not used, it can be placed in the capital improvement plan budget.

“We do have capital expenditures … that may not be happening next year, but may be happening two or three years from now so it’s important that we start to set money aside for those projects every year … so that when it actually comes it doesn’t really beat us over the head and cause a crippling effect on the city.”

The budget includes the cost of providing uniforms for all public works employees through a uniform service to provide better recognition of employees by the public.

Some small changes include:

– The city will discontinue paying Clinton County $6,915 per year to print city tax bills, switching to a private vendor at $5,500 per year.

r City police will get a 2.5 percent wage increase in 2019, but officers will contribute 6 percent of their income toward health and dental premiums. The budget also proposes the monthly payment for the five year lease of a new police cruiser to replace an older vehicle. Like with the current lease for the police vehicle purchased in 2018, the city will buy the vehicle for $1.

– There is a change in budgeting for the city-owned William T. Piper Memorial Airport. Wages and benefits of the “airport director and airport manager were transferred to the general fund from the airport fund, reducing airport fund expenses.”

Council Vice President Steve Stevenson asked about the thought process behind the transfer of the two positions to the general fund.

“I like true accounting … if this department costs this much and everybody that works there, their hours are charged to that so we have a true accounting on what it actually costs,” he said.

“You will still receive that impression because the department, 440, in the general fund means ‘airport’ and in the airport fund means ‘airport,'” Wilson answered. “We can still gather everything together by department.”

“By moving the expenditures for the director and manager into the general fund, it enables the airport fund to be balanced,” he continued. “So the remainder in the airport fund is then made as an annual payment to the general fund to help pay down the deficiency of the airport fund.”

Stevenson pointed out that this would only work if the account has a positive balance.

“There is,” Wilson said.

He talked further about how state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) accounts would be similar to the city’s and airport expenses would be grouped together regardless of which fund they are in.

“When you look at the annual audit as put into the DCED chart of accounts the state uses, if you look at that, it will still show total airport expenditures which in DCED’s chart will show as Dept. 440 expenditures regardless of fund. So they will still show as all airport expenditures,” he said.

The budget shows an increase in recreation office costs due to uncertainty about Keystone Central School District’s support of the Summer Recreation Program in 2019. Funds are allocated to cover the cost of lifeguards and city park staff. If KCSD continues to support the program, the funds will remain unspent.

WATER FUND

The city anticipates no increase to user fees in 2019.

Due to increased work by the city engineer in sewer operations, there will be a reduced share of wages and benefits to the water fund, but the public works director will take on a larger role in the water system, offsetting that change.

City Council recently agreed to borrow $3,852,000 from Citizens and Northern Bank for infrastructure improvements. That includes $2.5 million to Ohl Reservoir in Greene Township, where walls of the dam must be extended to keep water from overflowing in the event of a major flood, as per state regulations. The city must also create three supplemental water wellfields as a backup source of water while the project is underway.

Both Ohl and Keller Reservoir, near McElhattan, will be improved over the next five years in an effort to keep up with regulations.

The improvements to Ohl Dam should be completed by 2021, after which the dam at Keller Reservoir will be rebuilt.

The loan will mean an increase in debt payments.

SEWER FUND

Likewise, there is no anticipated increase in user fees in the sewer fund, according to Wilson.

There will be internal cost shifts for administration and treatment. Contracted maintenance of the Mill Hall and Bald Eagle pump station and the surge tank do cause budgetary changes. The city will be invoiced for its share of the Clinton County Sewer Authority annual fee and its share of the surge tank fees.

AIRPORT FUND

With the transfer of the wages and benefits of the airport manager and part-time airport director to the general fund, this fund will see a surplus.

The surplus will be made as an annual payment to the general fund to repay the fund’s deficiency. Wages and benefits for the mechanics are still accounted for in this fund.

LIQUID FUELS

There was only one increase in the liquid fuels (highway aid) fund for the 2019 proposed budget.

The increase comes from the completion of PennDOT’s turnback projects in 2018 to upgrade portions of Hanna Street, Bennage, Second, Third, Maple and Woods avenues.

Excess funds provided to the city for the upgrades will be transferred into the liquid fuels fund for future projects citywide.