Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
Note: The agenda and transcript indicate this meeting occurred on March 16, 2026; however, the required date for this summary is August 12, 2026. The summary below reflects the content of the meeting as documented.
The Borough Council Supercommittee convened to address financial obligations, infrastructure projects, fee schedules, and other administrative matters. Council President Amie Downs provided a detailed explanation of a missed $750,000 pension payment and steps to prevent recurrence.
Yes, sorry. Thank you. Hi, Mark. Like to call this meeting of the supercommunity for the borough dormant March 16, 2026. Or please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge leads to the Bye. And to the Republic for which is one nation under God and if it's all with everything in check as well. Thank you. Do we have any registered comments for the agenda today? We do not. Okay, with that being said, let's move on to executive committee. There are any discussion or uh motions here, but I do want to take a few minutes to talk a little bit about something that's happening later in the agenda at the finance and legal committee meeting. Um, as you know during as my fellow council members know, I should say. During uh it was discovered that was 2025 MMO, which is the state mandated um pension contribution had not been paid. And there were several causes of that issue, including some software and reporting failures, external service gaps, and some personnel oversight. Um, due to Pennsylvania Act 205, the borough must not pay the original MMO plus interest, which totals about $750,000. So just full disclosure here. As of January 31st, the borough maintains over $21 million across its police and police pension accounts, both are in good standing. This issue doesn't impact any numbers of the system at all. Um plan reserves will be depleted by over 400,000 in unplanned and planned expenditures, um, including capital expenses primarily for Beg Snyder and next generation playground. And some of those expenditures were actually made without the realization if the ML had not been paid. So as a result, today's meeting includes a formal vote to approve a $750,000 tax anticipation note or a TAN that will cover the missed payment and will be repaid using tax receipts that will begin arriving in April and May. And as this impacts our reserve, we're recommending several other measures to be as conservative as possible in the expenses this year. Um the next generation playground will be funded via grants, but a 1.5 million dollar general obligation note will be taken out that provides us with an opportunity to take full advantage of the grants, which are reimbursable, but only having to pay back interest for our 20-month, 24-month period, which I think is a great option for our community. We also learned today that DCNR grant for the next generation playground has moved out of the DC and Reneral Counsel office into the comp troller, and we're hoping to have that final executed contract within 30 days to start all that work. Um the borough also has 2.85 million dollars in loans that are following off balance sheet in the 26, 27 years, which will free up some cash to service the new playground debt for anything that we don't and aren't able to fundraise for. And because we can't know the future, the borough has also proactively had a $500,000 note approved to handle any unforeseen repairs or uh needs for natural disasters or other things over this year. Um, this will only be utilized on an as needed basis, but I think is an important piece for us to have and being proactive and thinking about how to handle anything that might come up. And finally, uh borough officials are being asked to be conservative in all expenditures. That's both elected and appointed, you know, whether it's unplanned, stick those funds, utilization of other budget items that can be pared down or pushed to another year. We really want to try to be as conservative as possible this year. And while we can't change what occurred, we can take steps to make sure that that never happens again. So with that in mind, here's some of those measures that have been taken. The new software accufund uh was installed in January 2026. It provides real-time reporting, automated payment notifications, and a collaborative budget development module, which is extremely helpful to this process. We have a continued partnership with Mount Lebanon's financial cooperative for added supervision, and we have flagged large revenues and expenditures, both sides, for closer monitoring, like the MIO, but also for deposit of the liquid fuels tax. So if we don't see it when we think we're supposed to see it, they'll flag it and bring it to our attention so we can figure out what's happening and what's going on. Um, a new pension board comprising of management uh labor groups and council is expected to be appointed in April to provide some fiduciary oversight and RFP for an investment manager, something that we had talked about previously, but was sort of put aside with everything else that happened in the past year. So we'll be moving forward with that as well. And that professional then would hopefully be more proactive and engaged than our current contractor to give us more information to flag stuff like that for us as well. The finance and legal committee obviously has been doing a great job in reviewing uh much more detail in both the financial and payrolls before they come to the full council, and it's in addition to the review of payments is typically done by the executive committee as well as a quarterly budget review by the entire body, which is scheduled for next month. Um and finally, is attending an extensive and intensive GFOA. Um that's the government financial officers. Thank you. Association budget workshop in April to sharpen their financial management skills.