Sorry it has been so many days, I have been extremely busy in trainings and meetings to better serve you. I will give a detail at some point if you wish, but I need to get back to the major post at hand.
I realize that 80% of you probably don't care about all the background information that I am putting into these blogs, but you have a right to know, because 100% of us are affected by increasing costs.
It is a sad fact that of all the taxes and fees we pay to the different government entities (Federal, State,County, etc) the most bang we get for our bucks is in local services. In fact, one theme that was stressed repeatedly in many trainings is Local Government exists to provide services. Services continue to increase in costs and complexity thanks to many non-funded mandates that we receive on the local level. For those who are not familiar with the phrase "non-funded mandates" these are laws and regulations that we must enforce that cost local governments lots of money, but no money is given from the Feds or state to pay for them. The consequence more of your local money is diverted and you aren't seeing any service benefits.
Other trends that are happening throughout the County is many communities are hitting the wall. I have heard many retired complaining about having to live on a fix income. I can empathize with the sentiment, but a fixed income is what an individual is going to get when relying on Government to take care of them. "Equally" dividing the pie does not take into account individual needs which vary greatly. It may come as a shock, but local government runs on a fixed income as well. It is called the local tax base and the citizens abilities to pay the taxes and fees. Interestingly enough it seems the only level of government that gives relief in economic challenging times is the local governments. Local governments are least likely to be able to afford it. You probably forgot but several years ago the rates that Delmont was being charged increased, but Delmont did not raise the rates. One year Delmont even cut back the rate. This is very popular and the citizens are very happy. Nobody wants to pay more for sewage than necessary. But this leads more to the way people think about money than charges for services.
Money is a strange thing. Personally, I hate spending money on Social Security tax, and Unemployment tax, hair cuts, like to eat well hate spending on food, clothes and shoes wrap up the short list. I bulk and complain a bit about $105 dues for an organization I love and will turn around and spend $125 for a music installment for kids lessons. I don't mind spending money for Philanthropy, books, personal education and growth, good food and service at restaurants, travel with family. The point is we all have our own comfort zone and likes about how we spend money. I doubt taxes, sewage, or utilities would make anybody's list of favorite expenditures, but where would we be without them?
In 2013, I think was the year, that Gallop studied how many family's actually have a budget. There finding was 1 in 3. To me that seems like it might be a little high, but that means that three of your Council members ought to be good at budgeting. Well, there is another list I didn't quit make, but I am learning.
I have come up with an analogy of our current sewer situation. Delmont was not the only government entity that could be described by this scenario. It also describes what many sewer authorities have done. It is this kind of thinking that I believe has lead to the bankruptcy of the Pittsburgh Serwer authority as well. Nobody anywhere likes to pay for this service. It must be viewed as just throwing money down the drain, but it is not. Modern conveniences have spoiled us. We set our garbage out and it disappears. We flush our toilets, out of sight out of mind.
Now here is the analogy: We passed an ordinance where we provide a Prime cut Steak for $2.00 a day as a service for our citizens. We get a 25 year contract where the full price is paid at the end. Everybody is thrilled they get to eat stead everyday for only $730.00 a year what a bargain. For the first 5 years the cost is $2.00 a day but those in power decide it has been a good yer so to make the citizens happy they reduce the fee to $1.50 for the next 5 years. The powers realize that the price is going up and there are only 10 years left rates need to go up. After much fighting and public comment the fee is back up to $1.75. There are only five years left. The community is out raged but fee is raised to $6.00. To keep it simple we will say that the real cost of the stake to the government was $10.00 and did not go up a cent for 25 years. Yes, this is totally unrealistic but it is sufficient to make the point. The cost per person for the full 25 years is $91,250.00. The total money collected to pay for it is $31,481.25. The amount still owed would be $59,768.75 per person. Where is that money suppose to come from? Government's role is to provide the services not make up for any short falls. Remember with proper budgeting and fee structures there would not be that big of a deficit. Ideally, there is a zero balance or what is necessary for emergencies of some infrastructure a surplus. Very few residents would be able to pay the 59,768.95 in one year, so the powers that be would have to come up with a payment plan of probably another 25 years so that the residents could afford the extra fee in addition to current tax and fee obligations. The steak fee would be $2,390.76 every year for 25 years and that would not be giving them new steak everyday. Everyone enjoyed having that steak everyday, but who would want to pay for it for 25 years long after the memory of satisfaction is gone? Fine people of Delmont, we have been "eating steak" so to speak for about 40 years and the bill is coming due.
I want to make a comment about "surpluses" when it comes to things like sewage treatment. Many people think if there is money that is not being spent that tax breaks should follow. For instance if I had $50,000 just sitting in the sewer account some people would be outraged that they were still paying so much for their sewage. Delmont trying to make a profit at our expense. The reality is equipment for sewage is extremely costly. If a pump would go that "surplus" is only one third of what would be needed to replace it. That's right sitting on $50,000 it still might be necessary to borrow another $100.000 just to keep sewage moving.
The realities I want to warn you about are we are going to probably need to borrow money to stabilize the budget with the upgrade that happened at the Pump station. Secondly, sewage rates are probably going to need to be increased. It is ironic that the Councilman with a whopping 5 months under his belt could have done so much wrong in such a short period of time. I assure you that I have the same amount of accountability, responsibility, and culpability for this situation that I have for other situations in history like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the Titanic, and the Hindenburg disaster. There are some who will try to get you to perceive otherwise.Please know that I am going to do my best to soften the blows that are on the horizon. Believe me there are a lot more coming and I am spending about 3 hours a day trying to think through some of this issues. I am not sure that all the money I am spending this year will give me enough information to solve all these issues, but it should give the basis for ideas. I truly hope that I can encourage fellow council members to work cooperatively toward objectives that are truly good for Delmont. My oppositions arise when I don't feel that the people of Delmont are not being heard or discounted, when the actions are against what constituents told me, or I believe that the action is for now and not the long term interest of our community.
As always feel free to contact me. It is a pleasure serving you.
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