Also, just so you are aware of what the Banonis-Carocci-Zavacky crew has been up to, they sent a cease and desist letter this week to Victoria Opthof-Cordaro, George Gress and Tom Roney demanding that they retract statements that were virtually identical to what Mr. Pratt is reporting at WLVR. When the Democratic candidates rightfully ignored that attempt at bullying, the Republicans filed for an emergency injunction in court on Friday. The request was denied.
These are the same people who claim they’re going to bring “experienced sound decision-making” to township government. What a joke.
Last night I attended what I thought would be a regularly scheduled meeting of the Lower Saucon Township Council. What I witnessed instead was a thinly disguised excuse to do campaign politicking, to demonize a neighboring borough official and allow at least one resident to throw a very public temper tantrum. What a circus Lower Saucon has become!
First, the Council approved the new 5-year police contract. Virtually no discussion. Vote: 5-0.
Next up was the approval of the Covid bonuses for the union police officers which really needed to be done before Election Day so no one could claim the Township Council didn’t love their police. You’ll recall these were the bonuses that couldn’t be approved previously because, even though Mr. Banonis had said their payment had nothing to do with the police contract, Mr. Banonis had also said they should wait till after the contract was completed to be approved. Hunh? Anyway, when Mrs. deLeon again raised the objection to how this had been handled, saying it felt like the bonuses had been withheld till contract completion to exert leverage, Mr. Carocci hastened to say that Mrs. deLeon was disrespecting the police officers by suggesting that they could be influenced by such a maneuver. Wait – doesn’t withholding approval of the bonuses till after contract completion imply exactly that same disrespect?
And then, just to show what great guys they are, they decided to up the bonuses to $3,000 instead of $2,500 like everyone else got because, hey, when it’s not your money, who cares? It’s coming from the federal government and we all know we have nothing to do with supporting that. Anyway, supposedly since the checks will be cut on the same day as the other bonus checks for the other employees, it’s all a wash anyway, right?
Well, no, it’s not. What it’s about is how you treat the people who work for you. If there was any disrespect shown, it was by the Council not approving the police bonuses at the same time as all the others. The bonuses are supposedly for showing up and doing your job during the very stressful time of Covid. No other qualification necessary – you just had to show up and do your job – with money coming from American Rescue Plan funds which are available. Their handling of it sent a very clear message that the bonuses for police were on the table during contract negotiations, meaning that the bonus wasn’t solely predicated on your doing your job during Covid because they already knew the police did that back on October 6 when they approved the other bonuses. For police officers, it was also predicated on agreeing to a new 5-year contract.
Even if that wasn’t explicitly stated – and it wasn’t – you’d have to be blind not to see the implication. From a human resource management perspective, this is crappy practice. In addition, we’ve now created a two-level caste system for the bonuses. Again, really shoddy HR practice.
And while we’re talking about bonuses, let’s highlight Mrs. deLeon’s suggestion that the fire company volunteers should perhaps be receiving bonuses also. After all, they had to do the same things the police officers did – respond to dwellings where they had no idea if someone had Covid, enter the buildings not knowing what they’d find, treat people who might have been infected. Why don’t they deserve bonuses too? Maybe not as much since they’re part-time volunteers, but how about $500 each just for showing up last year? That’s all the employees had to do to get their bonuses.
Somewhere in here we also got a cute little bit of performative theater from Mr. Carocci when he asked an audience member, presumably a police officer (I couldn’t see who it was), if he was happy with the new contract? Oh yes, sir. And was he happy with the $3,000 bonus? Oh yes, sir. What else did you expect him to say in front of a room full of residents and the Police Chief?
Then we had an update from Ms. Huhn on the Active Transportation Plan which Mr. Banonis went to great pains to point out she had moved up from the previous December 1 date at his request because . . . why? since, as Ms. Huhn acknowledged, none of this work can happen until next Spring. Maybe to get it on the agenda before Election Day? But anyway, Public Works is going to draw up plans for some of the items in the first phase of the Plan which is a good thing.
Now comes the most ridiculous agenda item – Lower Saucon Fire Rescue – Update on Fire Calls in Steel City. This was not an update. Ty Johnson, fire chief, simply presented the same data that had been presented before the vote in the summer to name LSFR the sole fire services provider for LST. The data only covered January through May 2021. Nothing new. Nothing different. And if it was new, it was unreadable in the tiny type on the Powerpoint slide.
But it did provide another opportunity to dump on the Steel City Fire Company and our neighbors in Hellertown. Mr. Banonis took the opportunity of this agenda item to then share some hearsay about something Tom Rieger, President of Hellertown Borough, had said in a meeting about an LSFR vehicle racing through the borough at high speeds which then gave Mr. Johnson the opportunity to complain that Mr. Rieger had not contacted him about it and wasn’t that awful. You get the idea.
Here’s the point. The information about whatever Mr. Rieger said was off-topic for the agenda item. It’s also, frankly, none of the LST Council’s business. As both the Council and the Fire Company never miss an opportunity to explain, LSFR is an independent entity, not controlled or managed by the township. It’s between LSFR and Mr. Rieger to work out.
But it also provided the opportunity for the real fireworks display of the night. Township resident Donna Louder spoke to make some complaint about Tom Rieger and his connection to someone who’s connected to the Steel City Fire Company who owns Quest Diagnostics putting a campaign sign on his business and violating 501(c)3 requirements and who knows what else. It was pretty incoherent. Mrs. Yerger informed Mrs. Louder that she was incorrect on her 501(c)3 claims as did I. Mrs. Louder than continued to rant about contacting the IRS and the Attorney General about Steel City and demanding an investigation, despite Mrs. Yerger’s admonitions to tone it down. Mrs. Louder then verbally attacked Mrs. Stauffer when she entered the conversation with questions about what specifically Mrs. Louder was referring to at which time things really spiraled out of control with Mrs. Louder yelling and screaming at Mrs. Stauffer. Eventually, she stopped after Mrs. Yerger repeatedly told her she was out of order. But later in the meeting she continued to be disruptive.
Here’s the pertinent question for Mrs. Yerger. Why do you put up with this? What happened to the 3-minute limit for residents to speak? Why wasn’t that enforced? You’re quick enough to enforce it during Public Comment. And when Mrs. Louder refused to settle down, why wasn’t she removed from the meeting? Chief Barndt was right there. At your request, he could have removed her. Other councils and school boards have done this.
Perhaps if she had been removed, she would not have felt entitled to continue the harassment of Mrs. Stauffer after the meeting to the extent that Chief Barndt did have to intervene. Does any of this have to do with the fact that Mrs. Louder’s husband is a Lower Saucon police officer and was there?
The point is all of this could have been avoided by not putting something on the agenda that was only a rehash of prior information and of no particular value.
Anyway, two small glimmers of hope – Ms. Huhn reported that the administrative staff had visited Hellertown to view their audio-visual set-up for livestreaming council meetings and that they would also be visiting North Whitehall Township. Baby steps. And Chief Barndt found an organization that will take the Township’s outdated ballistic vests and deconstruct and recycle them for the cost to the Township of shipping them to the organization. That’s a very cool solution. Unfortunately it got derailed by Attorney Alan Mege who wanted the Council to consider donating them to the county courthouse because they are short of equipment. There were a number of concerns raised about donating expired safety equipment and the liabilities it might raise for the township. Nevertheless, the motion to ship the vests was withdrawn while the Township looks into the possibilities. Hopefully this will be cleared up soon. Deconstructing and recycling seems like a very good option.
So that’s what you missed last night. Nothing particularly of value but a lot of insight into the township’s dysfunction that is overseen by two council members who are running for re-election. Is this really the kind of local government you want for the next 2-4 years? Keep it in mind before you vote on Tuesday.
ONE MORE THING BEFORE WE GO . . .
Why is Tom Carocci also on the ballot for Constable? As Kenan Thompson would say, “What’s up with that?”
General Election – Tuesday, November 2, 2021 – Polls open 7 AM to 8 PM. Mail-in ballots due in by 8 PM at Northampton County Court House
Next Township Council Meeting – Wednesday, November 17, 2021 – 6:30 PM at Town Hall
When I began Saucon Shenanigans in July 2020, I did so in response to some absolutely appalling behavior by elected council members that I had witnessed at repeated township council meetings over the previous few months. I thought (hoped) that if I drew attention to how inappropriate and counterproductive such behavior was that mature, responsible adults would take positive action to improve. In my first issue I wrote “My hope is that Council behavior will become more civil, collegial and professional as the year progresses, leading to better governance and better decisions. Increased transparency would be an improvement also.”
By and large, that hasn’t happened. Obviously my first mistake was to assume that I was dealing with mature, responsible adults.
And so here we are, 15 months later, with municipal elections fast approaching on November 2 and while I did not originally expect to endorse particular candidates in elections, I have no choice but to take a position on the best choices for Township Council and, because the local school board seems to have some of the same behaviors, Saucon Valley School Board.
SAUCON SHENANIGANS ENDORSES
For Lower Saucon Township Council Victoria Opthof-Cordaro
George Gress
Tom Roney
For Saucon Valley School Board
Raquel Barbera
Vivian Demko
Robert Phillips
Tracy Magnotta
If you’d like more detail on why I’ve chosen to endorse these candidates, keep reading.
There are so many reasons why Mr. Banonis and Mr. Carocci do not deserve your vote to continue on township council. I’ll try to keep it as succinct as possible.
Watch What They Do, Not What They Say
This is one of the guidelines I said I would use in writing this blog. That could hardly be more pertinent now when one looks at the egregious gaslighting that’s been pouring into our mailboxes from their campaign mailers.
“Cut your Earned Income Tax by 20% in 2021” – NO
No, they didn’t cut your earned income tax by anything. The statute that permits the collection of an additional .25% in EIT for the purpose of purchasing land for conservation has a sunset provision. That means that it MUST be ended after a certain period of time. The extra .25% has been in place for 15 years. BY LAW, it must be ended. They had nothing to do with it except to pass the facilitating ordinance, about which they had no choice.
“Refused Council pay – saving thousands of your dollars” – MISLEADING
This one appeared on a particularly ugly mailer implying that the Democratic candidates were trying to reap personal financial benefits from the Township by accepting the compensation provided for council members. The applicable township ordinance regarding council member compensation reads as follows:
“Salary of Council members. [Amended 4-18-1990 by Ord. No. 90-6; 12-27-1995 by Ord. No. 95-9] (1) Each member of the Council, elected or appointed to office on or after the effective date of this chapter, shall [emphasis added]receive the maximum annual compensation provided and allowable by the Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 65606, titled “Compensation of Supervisors,” and by law.”
That does not say “may”. It says “shall”. It is not negotiable. In fact, I would question whether it’s in violation of the ordinance to not accept the pay or whether the council person should be paid (with taxes, etc. deducted and reportable as income) and then, if they choose, donate it to wherever they like. At the May 6, 2020, council meeting, after that question was raised, the Council passed a motion to inquire of PSATS (the state advisory organization for municipalities) if a W-2 is required based on the fact that the ordinance says “shall.” While the motion passed, there has been no subsequent report on the answer to that question. Wonder why.
Incidentally, those thousands of dollars? Do you know what compensation is for a township council person? $3,250 per year. That’s right. Adding Social Security and Medicare taxes, it comes to $3,498.62 per year. For 3 council people, that totals $10,495.88. Do you know what the township’s budget is? For 2022, it’s $11,765,557 or for just the General Fund, $8,458,775.
Some quick math
$10,495.88 divided by $11,765,557 = .0009 (that’s .09%) OR
$10,495.88 divided by $8,458,775 (for the General Fund) = .0012 (that’s .12%)
They’re touting that they will save the township a whopping 0.09% of the budget by not taking their compensation. Or in relation to the General Fund – 0.12%. I call that a rounding error. And let’s not forget that their Republican council colleague, Council President Sandra Yerger, does take her compensation and has not signed on to reject it. In fact, her vote sank the resolution that Mr. Banonis and Mr. Carocci tried to jam through in May 2020 asking all council members to voluntarily forego their compensation.
Not only is that a miniscule amount of money in the township’s budget, it also raises the question of why do we compensate people at all for the job in the first place? Perhaps because we value their service and appreciate the time they put in? Or perhaps because we realize that it creates a consensual agreement between the citizens and their elected representatives that implies some responsibility of the elected representative to the people they serve? When you reject the compensation, are you also rejecting that responsibility?
If Lower Saucon Township were living on the brink of bankruptcy and had significant financial issues, this might (possibly) mean something. But it’s not. It’s a political ploy, despite what Mr. Banonis claimed at the May 6, 2020, council meeting. From the minutes: “Mr. Banonis said we’re not campaigning. … and it’s certainly not a campaign tool.” Really? Then why are you mentioning it in your campaign literature?
And why did Mr. Carocci’s motion to request voluntary refusal of council compensation include “for the remainder of 2020 and all of 2021?” Perhaps because he knew 2021 would be an election year?
Watch what they do, not what they say.
“Support our … fire services” – ONLY AFTER THEY BULLY THEM
Anyone who watched the shenanigans around the adoption of the 2021 budget back in October 2020 has to wonder what dictionary Mr. Banonis and Mr. Carocci get their definition of “support” from. By the addition of a footnote to the 2021 budget, they required that Lower Saucon Fire Rescue (LSFR) and Steel City Fire Company complete their merger – in the middle of a pandemic and with state resources seriously overwhelmed – before they could receive any funding in 2021. If the fire companies missed the deadline, then funding would be cut in incremental amounts down to eventually zero. LSFR leadership objected strenuously.
The merger didn’t happen. The deadlines passed. No funding was approved until June when all of a sudden it was just fine that they’d missed the deadline. After all that bullying, they went ahead and fully funded LSFR and named them sole fire services provider for the township, cutting off Steel City.
And then this October, Mr. Carocci, who loves to tout how he’s concerned about spending the residents’ money, arbitrarily suggested adding an additional $25,000, or a 12.5% increase, to the fire company budget even though LSFR had apparently not requested that amount, at least not in any public meetings. Those poor people at the fire company must be suffering from whiplash.
“Support our … police” – UNLESS YOU’RE IN CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS
This hypocrisy has been covered in the most recent issue of Saucon Shenanigans (see the blog archives “What’s the Rush, Boys?”). I urge you to read the details there. It boils down to Mr. Banonis and Mr. Carocci, abetted by Mrs. Yerger, approved $2500 per person Covid bonuses to all township employees EXCEPT the union police officers, supposedly because the township was in negotiation with the police union over a new contract. Of course, the details of that agreement had already been accepted the same night that the bonuses were awarded and Mr. Banonis argued that one had nothing to do with the other except, apparently, it did.
“Sound fiscal management” – BUT ABOUT THAT $920,000 EXCESS IN THE BUDGET
It’s astonishing that no one ever asks why for several years now the township has been adopting a budget that contains such a huge excess. Yeah, yeah, they tout that they “permanently” reduced township taxes by 20%, but why do you need an almost $1 million slush fund each year? The excuse used to be that they were stockpiling money for when the landfill gets built out, but no one’s mentioned that lately. (See below). And any planning for future development in the township to offset such a closure seems to have flown out the window in the last year also. Again, why is that?
And FYI, there’s no such thing as “permanently” reducing township taxes. They can raise them again whenever they want to.
Follow the Money
That’s one of the other guidelines I said I would use in writing this blog. So let’s look at a little history.
In 2015, the IESI Bethlehem landfill needed to expand to continue operations, an expansion called the Southeastern Realignment. That same year, a Political Action Committee (PAC) called Responsible Solutions for Pennsylvania suddenly popped up stating that it was supporting three Republican candidates for LST council – Sandra Yerger, the current Council president, Tom Maxfield, and Bill Ross – in the May 19 primary that year. The $20,950 in contributions to the PAC came substantially ($20,000) from the landfill company (IESI Bethlehem) as well as an in-kind contribution of $500 from IESI NY Corp which oversaw the Bethlehem landfill and $450 from residents of the township. The bulk of the money was paid to Mercury Public Affairs of NY for producing mail pieces and other services. And the in-kind services were provided by Andrew Moss, an attorney who worked for Progressive Waste Solutions.
The expansion was subsequently approved.
Fast forward to 2021. Another landfill expansion is again on the table, this one for the Northern Realignment. And just in time for the general election, up pops our old friend, Responsible Solutions for Pennsylvania, only this time with a mailing address in Crompond, NY instead of in Hellertown. This time they’re in it for much bigger money. This PAC has received $75,000 in contributions from Waste Connections US, Inc., a firm headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, that happens to be the parent company of – wait for it – IESI Bethlehem landfill. And who is this “independent expenditure organization” supporting? Why, the three Republicans running for LST Council – Banonis, Carocci and Zavacky.
Coincidence, you say? This iteration of the PAC reports that its chairperson is one Andrew Moss of Cortlandt Manor, NY (sound familiar?). He conveniently has also provided a mailbox for the PAC. And the mail pieces and other campaign literature, GOTV and political consulting services, website and internet services? All the work of one Mercury Public Affairs, now apparently headquartered in Tampa, FL.
Of course, the local developer, David Spirk, who previously headed up Responsible Solutions for Pennsylvania back in 2015 has been replaced by the above-mentioned Mr. Moss as chairperson and one Adwoa Boateng as treasurer, another New York state resident. What’s with all this NY interest in Lower Saucon? But you can find Mr. Spirk as an in-kind contributor to the Zavacky Carocci Banonis for Lower Saucon Township Council Committee along with a few other prominent area developers.
Then if we go back to January 2021 and remember that Mr. Banonis and Mr. Carocci, in a very ugly reorganizational meeting, forced Mrs. deLeon, who had decades of experience working as the council landfill committee liaison and who was content to remain as the liaison, out of her position so she could be replaced by Mr. Carocci, you might start to see some dots emerging that could possibly be connected. Because of course you wouldn’t want someone with extensive landfill experience to be the liaison to support the township’s committee. As I recall they objected that Mrs. deLeon was too confrontational. Wouldn’t want that.
But, there’s probably nothing there. As we all know, PACs are not permitted to coordinate with candidates’ campaigns and that never happens (wink-wink, nudge-nudge).
On the other hand, if you find this all plausibly coincidental, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.
Put all this together and ask yourself. Is this who you really want running this township for the next two to four years? How do the residents of Steel City, butted right up against the landfill, feel about this? Do you think your concerns will be adequately addressed? And do you really want the boorish, arrogant bullying that we’ve witnessed over the last two years to be the face that Lower Saucon presents to the world?
As to the third member of the slate, Mrs. Zavacky, well, you’re known by the company you keep.
Vote Opthof-Cordaro – Gress – Roney
School Board Choices
I don’t usually cover the Saucon Valley School Board but I have a few comments to make in that regard since how we educate our children is essential to the future of our world.
The current board is also engaging in a good deal of gaslighting as well. There’s been a lot of mealy-mouthed equivocating on the subject of masking, at least until Governor Wolf took the decision out of the hands of such people as serve on the current board. (Thank you, Governor Wolf.). This should have been the easiest decision they had to make. Their first and foremost responsibility is to keep our children safe and then, once that’s taken care of, to provide them with an effective education. And while they love to tout that they were the only district to keep in-person learning available all last year, they fail to mention that they did it by requiring masking. So faced with the same responsibility this school year, they dithered and vacillated and came up with a convoluted solution designed to guarantee no level of safety. And now they want you to re-elect them. No thanks.
As for the Republican candidate who claims to be a victim of racism, any white man who wakes up in this country and claims he’s a victim of racism is either delusional or too uneducated to be allowed to sit on a school board.
Vote Barbera – Demko – Phillips – Magnotta
ELECTION DAY – TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2021 – POLLS OPEN AT 7 AM. OR RETURN YOUR MAIL-IN BALLOT BY NOVEMBER 2 AT 8 PM
The pathetically underattended meeting of the Lower Saucon Township Council took place on Wednesday, October 6, 2021. Apparently very few residents considered it important to show up for discussion of the proposed 2022 budget, the marquee item on the agenda.
There were 5 members from the Chamber of Commerce in attendance to present a donation check of $810.19 to the police department from a fundraiser they held. They promptly skedaddled once the presentation was over. There were three representatives of the Hellertown council/mayor there. More on their concerns later. They stayed for the whole meeting, to their credit. Then there were a number of candidates for Council who have been reliably attending meetings for several months and Mrs. Zavacky who hardly ever bothers to show up. Beyond that, you could count the attendees on one hand and have fingers left over.
The housekeeping stuff all passed with 5-0 votes. Mrs. Yerger announced at the beginning of the meeting that the Council had met in executive session and accepted the terms of the agreement that will result in a 5-year contract with the police department. The Council then officially passed the motion to accept it, 5-0.
That July Data Breach
On questioning from resident George Gress, we finally got an answer to the outcome of the investigation of the data breach on July 9. Solicitor Treadwell reported that the server had been infiltrated by unauthorized people but that no personal or sensitive information had been compromised. There was no cost involved for the investigation beyond the $2500 deductible of the insurance policy. It should be pointed out, however (although Solicitor Treadwell didn’t mention it), that remediation to the IT systems to prevent future hacks appears to come to more than $20,000 based on the figures listed in the 2022 budget. This includes the replacement of 2 servers.
The PA Department of Environmental Protection completed its first Environmental Assessment Review of the Bethlehem landfill. The report was sent to the landfill committee which had not met prior to the Council meeting. The landfill committee chairman reported that they had done a good job. The landfill needs to respond by December 24. Mrs. deLeon requested that a report from the landfill committee be put on the agenda for after their October 21 meeting. Watch this space.
On to the Budget
One small question I had raised in the last issue of Saucon Shenanigans regarding a surprisingly large increase in the Council Expenses account for next year was easily answered by Finance Director Cathy Gorman. The 72% increase represented both some IT remediation costs but also, more significantly, funding in case all of the Council members choose to attend conferences in 2022. Because of Covid last year, most conferences were cancelled or Council members chose not to attend, dramatically reducing the actual costs in that account.
Of more interest and concern was the extensive discussion regarding the funding for the Hellertown Public Library which gave rise to the question asked in the title of today’s blog.
Hellertown Public Library
In the budget proposed at the workshop session on September 15, LST’s contribution to the library was pegged at $100,264, the same amount as last year. At that workshop session, Mr. Carocci had requested that Ms. Gorman refigure the budget with increases of both 5% and 7.5% for the library in 2022. Those numbers came out to $105,277 and $107,784, respectively. But Mrs. Stauffer, the Council’s liaison to the library, had also asked at that same meeting that Ms. Gorman come up with a per capita model that could be used for determining the township’s contribution.
Mrs. Stauffer asked at this meeting for that per capita model and, doing calculations on the spot using the new census figure of 11,094 residents in the township, Mrs. Gorman came up with the figure of $9.66 per capita, which actually doesn’t match the budget number of $107,784. It comes out to $107,168.04 instead. Supposedly that $107,168.04 number came from the library board’s proposal to the township, although that proposal was not available to view.
Here’s where it gets weird. A little history is in order.
When the township agreed to join with Hellertown Borough in supporting the Hellertown Public Library – a move that was decidedly NOT supported by a large number of LST residents who were not happy to lose access to the much better resourced and more professionally managed Bethlehem Public Library – a five-year agreement was created that covered the new relationship. That agreement included the funding arrangement. The agreement expired with the 2020 budget but, because of Covid and the difficulties in meeting, the budget figure for 2021 remained the same as for 2020 based on a memo from the library board to the Township requesting the same.
That means that a new 5-year agreement needed to be produced for this year or the previous one extended again.
That agreement has apparently not been finalized or approved by either LST or Hellertown Borough. In fact, the Hellertown Borough folks were at the LST meeting because they had not yet had an opportunity to discuss what they were going to do vis-à-vis the new agreement and they wanted to see what LST was planning to do. Which raises the question, if there has been no finalized agreement or even extensive discussions, why were Mr. Carocci and Mr. Banonis so adamant that a number had to be inserted into the budget and the budget approved at this Council meeting?
FYI, in 2019, the budget adoption meeting was held on October 23. Last year, the budget adoption meeting was held on October 28. So clearly it was not necessary to pass the budget at this October 6 meeting.
This is not the way to run a township or a budgeting process, just haphazardly choosing a percentage increase in the budget for the library and then sticking it into the budget along with a reminder that anything in the budget could be adjusted by 10% after the budget was adopted and saying you’ll figure out later what the number should be. Especially when there’s NO RUSH TO GET THIS DONE!
So let me, in the interest of civic improvement and waiving my usual $250/hour consulting fee, offer an idea for how a responsibly-run township should approach this.
1. The Library should have provided a draft 5-year agreement for review by both Hellertown Borough and LST in a timely manner prior to budget consideration. [NOTE: meeting timely deadlines does not seem to be a strong point of the library leadership. That needs to change.]
2. The draft 5-year agreement should include a budget for 2022 as well as a budget request for the amount of support needed from the Borough and the Township, on the assumption that the library has other sources of revenue such as fines, fees, grants, and private donations. That budget should be created based on a thorough analysis of what the library’s real costs will be and the costs of any anticipated improvements or expansions, not on what they consider to be an amount that won’t annoy the Township or Borough.
3. The budget request to the Borough and the Township should then be apportioned based on a clearly defined funding formula. It would seem that a per capita cost based on current census numbers would be the most equitable. For example, since LST has 11,094 residents and Hellertown has 6,132, the total budget request should be divided by 17,226 to determine the per capita number and then that number should be multiplied by the number of residents in each municipality to determine the actual dollars requested from each entity.
[NOTE: there are other ways to allocate funding, such as by a percentage or by a percentage that takes into account the in-kind donation from Hellertown of having the library within their borders which possibly generates non-financial support needs from the Borough. Whatever the mechanism, it should be clearly explained.]
4. It would also be useful if the library would produce a 5-year projection budget to give the financing bodies some idea of what to expect down the road, highlighting any assumptions of population growth or per capita increase.
5. The Library Board should then make a presentation to both councils. Preferably this would include the director of the library and the president of the library’s board as well as their financial person. That presentation might include, in addition to the budget request, a review of what the library has accomplished in the previous year and what it hopes to change. For example, the library has been doing good work on revising its by-laws, cleaning up its board rotation process and developing job descriptions for board members. This would all be of interest in evaluating the budget request. This presentation should NOT be left to the Council’s library liaison member since that member has no authority to make or change any of the library’s decisions.
6. After the presentation, each municipality could then debate the budget request and decide how they will respond to it. At this point, they could make an INFORMED decision on what the budget number should be, not a shot in the dark. If there are concerns about how one municipality’s decision could affect another’s, there could be a joint workshop meeting simply for the sake of considering this one agenda item. If the municipalities decline to meet the library’s requested budget amount, the library would either have to find other sources of revenue for that shortfall or reduce their spending. The 5-year agreement should cover what the options are and what the municipalities’ responsibilities are in that kind of a situation.
7. There also needs to be a formal adoption of the 5-year agreement with the library. Once that agreement, which includes the funding formula for future years, is in place, future oversight could include an annual status presentation from the library at the same time as each year’s budget request and discussion takes place. Before it’s adopted, the public should have the opportunity to both read and comment on it at a public meeting.
There. I fixed it for you.
Based on this year’s meeting schedule, even with the library missing the September 1 date to submit the budget request, the request to create a test budget at 5% and 7.5% for the library could have been made at the Sept. 15 meeting as it was (although a percentage increase is an arbitrary and ill-informed choice), the presentation from the library plus the informed budget discussion could have been made at the October 6 meeting and any differences with Hellertown could have been worked out then or at a subsequent joint workshop meeting. That would have left plenty of time to adopt the new budget on October 27 in a similar timeframe to previous years.
And we all know the Council makes the fire company jump through similar hoops every year for funding, so why should the library be any different?
If the LST Council isn’t willing to invest the time and energy to responsibly analyze the Hellertown Library budget request each year, then why don’t they just admit it and sign us back up with Bethlehem where all they have to do is write a check?
The draft budget was adopted 4-1 with Mrs. Stauffer voting no because of the handling of the library issue.
Again, what was the rush this year?
The other item irrationally discussed and jammed through was the decision to provide $2500 bonuses to 20 township employees from the American Rescue Plan COVID-19 funds. When Mr. Carocci suggested it at the September 15 meeting, resident Victoria Opthof-Cordaro asked why the uniformed police department members were not included in the bonus plan. Mr. Carocci’s response was that he didn’t want to provide bonuses to the police department while they were in the middle of negotiations. However, Solicitor Treadwell and Mr. Carocci himself admitted that the money for the bonuses was not coming from the township budget. Mr. Carocci also described this as a bonus for township employees for doing their jobs through the Covid crisis. So there is no correlation between a contract negotiation that results in a budgeted township expense and has long-term implications and a one-time, one-off bonus that has no relationship to job performance or work rules or a union contract and is going to be paid for out of Federally-provided funds.
Nevertheless, he persisted that the police should not be included in the bonus payment with a promise that they could be included after negotiations were completed.
Jump to October 6. The first action of the meeting was to accept the terms of the 5-year agreement with the police union. But when the item to award bonuses to township employees from the American Rescue Plan Covid-19 funds was presented for approval, again the unionized police officers are not to be included at this time. So – you have an approved agreement with the police union but they’re still not eligible for the bonus – yet?? How does that work? Both Mrs. deLeon and Mrs. Opthof-Cordaro raised that question, again, with Mrs. deLeon saying that it looked like this was holding the police department hostage to sign the 5-year agreement. And again the response was that, well, the agreement wasn’t signed and Mr. Banonis rejected the idea of hostage-taking. From the draft minutes of the October 6 meeting:
“Mr. Banonis: ‘It’s just a matter of reducing the terms of that [agreement] to a formal contract and having it executed. So this in no way is being used as leverage.’ Ms. deLeon said in her opinion one has nothing to do with the other. ‘You are treating a different…’ Mr. Banonis said ‘exactly, you are right, they don’t.'”
So which is it, Mr. Banonis? Do the two things have nothing to do with each other? Or is the bonus contingent on the police department signing the 5-year contract? Or does it just look that way, because, gee, that’s a really good way to manage the relationship with the police department. Sounds like your mouth says the first thing and your actions execute the second.
I wonder how our police department is feeling about being left out of the bonus process, at least for the time being. All warm and fuzzy? All appreciated for the work they did? Maybe not so much? Perhaps they should go talk to the guys in the fire department about their treatment at the hands of this council during last year’s budget process.
And then the other question is – what was the rush? The Council doesn’t have to spend these funds by any specific date. They could have waited until after the police contract was signed, if that was their preference, to award all the bonuses to all the people eligible. Why’d you have to rush to get it done piecemeal? Why not avoid even the impression of bullying or favoritism? That would be good township and personnel management.
The motion passed 3-2 with Mrs. Stauffer and Mrs. deLeon voting no.
One More Thing Before We Go
It was heartening to see that Junior Councilperson Avia Weber wore a mask throughout the entire Council meeting. Apparently mask-wearing is less of an issue for students than some would have us believe. Or possibly, they’re just smarter, more careful, and more considerate than most of the adults in the room.
Next Township Council Meeting – Wednesday, October 27, 2021 – 6:30 PM at Town Hall
Next General Election – Tuesday, November 2, 2021. Mail-in ballots can be returned as soon as you receive them.
Watch for the Special Election Edition, coming out this weekend.
The September 15th meeting of the Lower Saucon Township Council was again sparsely attended. Aside from the council members, the township staff and the police chief, there were only about 14 people present. That included state representative Milou Mackenzie. She was apparently there to toot her own horn about how available she is to help township residents with whatever it is they need. Yes, we know. That’s your job. Too bad so few people could hear her remarks.
The other unfortunate thing about the dearth of listeners was that this was the meeting where the 2022 draft budget was presented by Director of Finance Cathy Gorman. This is the time to get a good idea of where your tax dollars will be going next year and to make any suggestions of alternatives. Sadly, there are very few township residents who are now adequately informed.
Ms. Gorman provided a review of the current financial state of the township as well as an analysis of where it will be at fiscal year end (December 31). She then went into detail about each of the items in the budget. I know – not scintillating Netflix stuff, but this is the stuff that counts, People!
Once Ms. Gorman finished, Mr. Carocci spoke up with his laundry list of changes that he wanted to see in the proposed budget. They included a 2.5% salary increase for township employees, a $5-10/hour increase for Solicitor Treadwell, an additional $25,000 for the fire department, $20,000 additional for road maintenance, and an increase of either 5% or 7.5% of library funding with a matching percentage from Hellertown.
[NOTE: These numbers are from my notes of the meeting. As of this writing, the minutes of that portion of the meeting are missing on-line so I can’t verify them against the draft minutes. I’ve asked Ms. Huhn to post the missing pages so that they are available for comparison.]
Mr. Carocci also proposed a bonus of $2500 per township employee to be taken from the additional funds provided by the American Rescue Plan, separate and apart from township expenses. This would be as a thank you for surviving Covid. It would cover 21 employees (administrative, police and public works) for a total of $52,500 but would not affect the township’s operating budget.There was no substantive opposition from anyone on Council to any of these changes so Ms. Gorman said that she would produce additional scenarios of the budget with the suggested changes for review. FYI – the township expects to have approximately $1.65 million as a beginning balance going into 2022, so none of these changes make a substantial difference in the township’s financial situation.
More on the budget and what to expect at Wednesday’s Council meeting below.
The other item of significance on the September 15 agenda was the presentation of an estimate to retrofit Council chambers to support interactive livestreaming of Council meetings. There was only one proposal submitted which was by the firm that had done the previous audio-visual work in the township building. The estimate was for $17,500 to provide the capability to both livestream meetings and to have interactive feedback from residents who are watching the livestream. Mrs. DeLeon and Mrs. Stauffer in particular have been adamant about the need for such a capability. And in fact, the dramatic drop in residents who participate in Council meetings, from an average of about 35 to 40 during Zoom meetings to a recent average of about 14 or 15, underscores the need for ease of accessibility to the meetings. It has been very disappointing that, even though Mrs. DeLeon and Mrs. Stauffer have repeatedly pointed out the need to get such a capability in place, we are now 3-1/2 months beyond the return to in-person meetings with no solution on the horizon, exacerbated by the other Council members’ deafness to the need (or perhaps their lack of desire) for such a capability.
That said, and I am a strong supporter of livestreamed, interactive meetings, Mr. Carocci raised a few salient points, most importantly that he was uncomfortable with only having one estimate for a project like this. He also expressed concern that it was not clear who would manage such a system and whether the township had the in-house technical capabilities to make sure it was operable. After considerable discussion of those points and others, the motion was tabled and Ms. Huhn was instructed to get at least two other estimates from other companies. This is a prudent move. Without in-house expertise on such a system, it will be difficult for the council to understand what exactly they’re paying for or whether any training that is purchased will be adequate. In addition, although it was not brought up in the discussion, I found it concerning that the only estimate provided indicated there would be at least an 8-10 week lapse before the project could even be scheduled by the company. Add to that the time to complete the project, and we’re looking at sometime in the new year before we have any hope of seeing a livestreamed Council meeting. Hopefully, other companies will be more responsive.The rest of the meeting concerned mostly housekeeping issues and the Council was eager to adjourn as the lights had already flickered in the midst of a raging thunderstorm.
Looking Ahead
That said, let’s take a look at the next meeting which includes approval of the 2022 budget on its agenda. This is a bit of a surprise since for quite a few weeks, the October 27 meeting has been identified as the budget approval meeting on the township website. That designation has now disappeared from the website to be replaced with Wednesday’s vote. I wonder why. Last year it took place in late October.
The budget is up on the website along with Wednesday’s agenda. It includes two scenarios – one that includes a 2.5% salary increase for township employees and a 5% increase for the library and one that includes a 3% salary increase for township employees and a 7.5% increase for the library. What is also included in the budget are a bunch of items tagged “funding to address IT security recommendations.” Totaling those line items that are identified as IT or, under Data Processing, major equipment and software, there appears to be an increase of $26,790 over the same costs last year and, compared to the numbers that were presented at the September 15 meeting, an increase of $23,090. That’s a big change in just 3 weeks.
The question that pops to mind is: is this a result of the investigation into the data breach over the summer? There has been no report on the results of that investigation nor does there appear to be any report scheduled for the October 6 meeting. Perhaps we’ll find out on Wednesday what required such a big adjustment.
A smaller question is related to a 72%+ increase in the Council Expenses line. Nothing related to that was raised in the budget workshop session either.
All of these questions are why there really need to be more people paying attention to what’s happening in the township.
Next Township Council Meeting – Wednesday, October 27, 2021 – 6:30 PM at Town Hall
Next General Election – Tuesday, November 2, 2021. Mail-in ballots can be returned as soon as you receive them.
Saucon Shenanigans 