• EMERGENCY: 911
• STATE POLICE -
  NON-EMERGENCY:
  215.249.9191

610.847.0911
Directly to Dublin Barracks

YOU NEED A PERMIT IN NOCKAMIXON

MINUTES OF NOCKAMIXON TOWNSHIP
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

SEPTEMBER 26, 2007

The Budget session for Nockamixon Township Board of supervisors was opened at 7:04 p.m. on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 by Chairman, James A. Litzenberger.  In attendance were Nancy Janyszeski, Supervisor, Henry Gawronski, Supervisor, Bruce Keyser, Supervisor, Angelic Morales, Treasurer, Thomas Keebler, Chairman of the Park and Recreation Board; also in attendance were 5 residents.

Immediately after the pledge of allegiance Chairman announced that the Board would be in an executive session at 7:06 p.m. to discuss real estate and personnel.  Board returned at 7:21 p.m.

Tom Keebler informed the Board after a conversation with the Township Building Inspector, they are requiring an engineering plan which will bring the building total to $10,430.00.  Dutchway will do it for us for the new amount, so I am asking the Board to make a motion to change the amount from the $9,730.00 to $9,995.00 for the purchase of the pole barn for Revere Park as discussed at the September 18, 2007 Board of Supervisors’ meeting.  Nancy Janyszeski asked if it would have to be reviewed by the Township Planning Board and James Litzenberger replied no.  Tom Keebler contacted the Township Engineer and discussed the parameters and footage.  James Litzenberger reminded Tom to be sure not to build it near or on any boundaries lines to a resident’s lot. Tom replied its going where the existing barn is.

Motion Made by James A. Litzenberger, seconded by Henry Gawronski to rescind the amount of $9,730.00 and approved the new amount of $9,995.00 for the purchase of the Dutchway Pole Barn.   Motion carried 4-0-0

James Litzenberger asked the Board if it would please the board to set a limit to this evening’s meeting time.  Nancy Janyszeski asked if there was another meeting to be planned and James Litzenberger said yes we will schedule another meeting to discuss the Budget.

James Litzenberger began reviewing the budget starting with line item 5 which begins the Revenue section of the proposed 2008 Budget.  

Henry Gawronski asked James Litzenberger why the old system of preparing the Budget was changed and the reply was that the old system was in excel and the Auditor/CPA suggested preparing the future budgets in QuickBooks.  Henry said the budget should have projections etc.  Discussions continued about the fund balances, columns and the set up of the 2008 Proposed Budget. James Litzenberger suggested that columns be added to show, beginning balance, ending balance, projected year to date, annualized expected column.  James Litzenberger stated he did not need a variance column; however he wanted to see what was expected till the end of the year, like the last three months of the year.  Angelic Morales commented she would make the changes.  The changes are to include 2007 Year to date, 2008 Annual Budget, Prior years Budget, so column B will remain the same, column D will reflect the Year to Date, column I will show the projected; a new column K to be added to reflect the last three months projected year end and Column M to be the proposed 2008 Budget. Angelic Morales confirmed that there is to be a total of 5 columns. James Litzenberger said that’s correct.

James Litzenberger started with discussions of the local services tax and the quarry over the road tax as revenue streams.  We have to consider a bond referendum and a line of credit suggested by the Open space referendum; we also have other things to be considered with wages and the cost of living increase.  Angelic Morales commented that she added the 3% wage increase as was suggested at the 2008 Municipal Budget class she attended. 

Nancy Janyszeski commented about the 2007 Fee Schedule section C paragraph which outlines Drainage review.  James Litzenberger commented that it would take the Solicitor and the Engineer to review the fee schedule and that every January the Fee Schedule will be changed or updated for the year.  We can email them general questions regarding the fee schedule.  Angelic Morales commented that in prior years the engineer and the solicitor received a copy to make changes before it was adopted the next year. 

James Litzenberger started with line item 5 general real estate taxes and commented that he will refer to items by line number.  Henry asked about how the increases came about and James Litzenberger reminded the Board that review of the income for right now will be fine until the expenditures are reviewed.

James Litzenberger ran through the increases and decreases on line 5 through line 15.  Discussion took place amongst the other Board members regarding the breakdown of the proposed numbers versus last year’s revenues.  Lines 5 through 15 are acceptable.

Nancy Janyszeski asked why would Open Space have a delinquent amount?  Angelic Morales responded if taxes are owed in previous years and those taxes are paid for in another fiscal year, those funds are applied to that year as delinquent if they were delinquent at the time of collection. 

The Board continued reviewing lines 16 through 22, licenses and permits.  Nancy Janyszeski asked if all the permits for the holding tank were paid to date and Angelic Morales responded that she believes there is only one unpaid.

Continuing with line 25 through 28 are acceptable with the exception of line 28 to be changed to “0”.

Lines 31 through 38 are acceptable.
Lines 42 are intergovernmental revenues through 47 are acceptable.
Line 48 can be increased to $37,000.00.
Line 49 is acceptable but Board needs breakdown of revenue sources.  James Litzenberger commented that he was not aware of a gaming tax and requested copies of the letters that accompanied the funds for revenue line 49 Payment in lieu of Taxes.
Lines 52 through 56 are acceptable. Line 57 should be decreased to $2,000.00.
Lines 58 through 66 are acceptable. Line 69 UCC Fees Protective Ins. is a $4.00 fee that is to be paid with each Building Permit that is applied for. Lines 69 through 75 are acceptable.

Discussion began with respect to Culture and Recreation and its fees and donations.  Community Day spaces were estimated by the available spaces for fees and those spaces that are giving away for special organizations.  There are about 80 spaces available.  The revenue for spaces this year was about $1,060.00.  Line 78 is acceptable at $1,000.00.
Line 79 is acceptable.

Contributions and Donations; lines 82, 83 and 84; Line 82 decreased to 0.  Line 83 to be decreased to $500.00 and line 84 to be decreased to $5,000.00.

Lines 87 and 88 to be changed to $9,000.00 which represents the Special Assessment for Park and Recreation and Road improvement funds.

After reviewing the revenues it was the consensus to end the Budget portion of tonight’s meeting and begins discussion regarding the Line of Credit for Open Space. 

James Litzenberger asked Henry Gawronski to begin discussion.  Henry Gawronski commented that EIT funds for Open Space may not be enough to pay a debt that size.  Henry Gawronski added that the Township always paid for debt as it came in that the debt would not accumulate over time putting the township in debt.  Henry Gawronski noted that he will not be in favor of raising taxes and if we can not acquire land with the funds we have then we just don’t go after those parcels.  James Litzenberger reminded the public that he is not a real estate professional, but in his opinion now would be the time to purchase easements or purchase land due to the value of land pricing being good at this point.  James Litzenberger stated that it’s obvious that Henry Gawronski is not in favor of the Line of Credit he would like to continue acquiring land as the township has done in the past.  Henry commented that he feels the board should not discuss this without the entire board there.  Bruce Keyser commented that the Board votes on what is presented in front of them at open meetings and can not reschedule voting on items that may or may not interest board members that do not attend public meetings. 

James Litzenberger explained that the line of credit would be based on EIT Open Space distributions and further discussions took place regarding the revenue stream coming in for Open Space and that he had discussions with Dave Hetherington from First Savings Bank of Perkasie and it was confirmed that the basis of the line of credit was the Open Space EIT Revenues.  James Litzenberger clarified the meaning of a line of credit, which if the Township acquired a line of credit with EIT Open Space revenues it would need to only be for the purchase of Open Space.  Unfortunately, in ten years from now if we did vote on this line of credit, it can be used for anything for the township.   

After discussions and deliberations, Nancy Janyszeski had the following questions:
What amount will be available to pay this obligation? What are the different rates that are involved? How many months would the loan term be in months, quarter etc.? Are there other costs involved like loan closing costs, fees, payments per year and interest? Can we see some type of amortization schedule or sheet that can provide some numbers for us to review?  Nancy requested from the Open Space Committee specifically the debt impact on the township with specific numbers on expectations.  Sanci Tenney, Chair of Open Space commented that if you ask the bank what you want, they provide the numbers.  You will not know what the payments and interest will be until you draw down.  Nancy asked are we approving something blind.  James Litzenberger requested that they prepare a simpler explanation of the fees and costs and to work with Nancy in preparing it for the next Budget session that will be scheduled tonight.  Henry Gawronski stated that they were working on the assumptions that the EIT income will be more than expected and feels that having a line of credit would provoke spending the income before the Township makes it.   

Discussion took place regarding the re-scheduling of the next Budget Session.  It is the consensus of the board to hold the second Budget Session for October 9, 2007 at 7:00 pm.  James Litzenberger stated that he had to re-sign the container application that was lost last year, so that it may be processed accordingly. 

Motion to Adjourn by Henry Gawronski and seconded by Bruce Keyser at 8:41 p.m.                                                                                                     Motion carried 4-0-0

Respectfully submitted

_________________________                      ___________________________
Angelic Morales                                               James Litzenberger, Chairman
Township Treasurer                                                     
Assistant Township Secretary                           ___________________________     
                                                                                    Supervisor
                                                                                   
                                                                        ___________________________
                                                                                    Supervisor