2018 Summary Budget.Pdf

2018 SUMMARY BUDGET CENTRE REGION COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS 2018 SUMMARY BUDGET Table of Contents CENTRE REGION COG SERVICE AREA 3 SCHLOW CENTRE REGION LIBRARY 78 GENERAL FORUM MEMBERS 4 SCHLOW CENTRE REGION LIBRARY CAPITAL 82 2018 COG BUDGET SUMMARY TABLES 5 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S LETTER 8 CENTRE REGIONAL PLANNING AGENCY 84 BUDGET COMPARISONS 35 CENTRE COUNTY METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION 87 OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION 41 REGIONAL FIRE PROTECTION PROGRAM 91 REGIONAL REFUSE AND RECYCLING PROGRAM 45 FIRE PROTECTION CAPITAL 95 COG CONTINGENCY FUND 49 COG BUILDING CAPITAL 51 PARKS AND RECREATION OPERATING 99 INSURANCE RESERVE FUND 56 PARKS AND RECREATION CAPITAL EQUIPMENT 104 UNEMPLOYMENT RESERVE 61 AQUATICS PROGRAM 106 AQUATICS CAPITAL 109 OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 63 ACTIVE ADULT CENTER 113 EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CONTINGENCY FUND 65 MILLBROOK MARSH NATURE CENTER 118 MILLBROOK MARSH NATURE CENTER CAPITAL 123 CODE NEW CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM 67 REGIONAL PARKS CAPITAL 127 CODE EXISTING STRUCTURES PROGRAM 72 CODE CAPITAL 76 2 3 GENERAL FORUM MEMBERS 2017 CHAIR: Thomas Daubert, State College Borough VICE CHAIR: Danelle Del Corso, Halfmoon Township COLLEGE TOWNSHIP COUNCIL FERGUSON TOWNSHIP SUPERVISORS HALFMOON TOWNSHIP SUPERVISORS Richard Francke, Chair Steve Miller, Chair Danelle Del Corso, Chair L. Eric Bernier Janet Whitaker Todd Kirsten Carla Stilson Peter Buckland Andrew Merritt Steven Lyncha Laura Dininni Barbara Spencer Anthony Fragola Rita Graef Mark Stevenson HARRIS TOWNSHIP SUPERVISORS PATTON TOWNSHIP SUPERVISORS STATE COLLEGE BOROUGH COUNCIL Dennis Hameister, Chair Elliot Abrams, Chair Thomas Daubert, President Nigel Wilson Walter Wise Theresa Lafer Bruce Lord George Downsbrough Cathy Dauler Charles “Bud” Graham Jeffrey Luck Evan Myers Frank Harden Dan Treviño David Brown Janet Engeman Jesse Barlow MAYOR: Elizabeth Goreham THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY STATE COLLEGE AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT Zach Moore / Charima Young Gretchen Brandt 4 2018 Summary Budget – Summary Tables 5 2018 Summary Budget – Summary Tables 6 2018 Summary Budget – Summary Tables 7 TABLE A 2015 COG BUDGET: SUMMARY OF PROPOSED REVENUES No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. John Donne We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin 2018 SUMMARY BUDGET EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S TRANSMITTAL LETTER The Finance Committee, Agency Directors, and I are pleased to present for your consideration the 2018 Summary Budget for the Centre Region COG. This budget document reflects the recommendations, comments, and concerns of many individuals and groups including the Schlow Memorial Board of Trustees, the Centre Region Parks and Recreation Authority, Millbrook Marsh Advisory Committee, Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization, the COG Public Safety Committee, the Human Resources Committee, individual municipal officials, and the public. The Finance Committee’s budget review sessions were cablecast on C-NET, channel 7 and are available for web-streaming at http://cnet1.org/video/ShowByMember/5/. The recommendations contained in this budget proposal build upon the municipal partnerships that have been made possible by the hard work, creativeness, and commitment of the elected and appointed officials and the COG Staff. These partnerships have made it possible to provide Centre Region residents with a broad range of important public services in a high quality and cost effective manner that is accountable to the elected officials. Included in this budget are revenue projections and proposed expenditures to provide general government services such as fire protection, emergency management, parks and recreation, library, land use and transportation planning, and building code administration to the more than 95,000 people (May 2016 US Census) who live in the Centre Region and a great many others who visit or work in our area. Local governments are being challenged on many fronts. Federal, state, and county financial support has, and will likely remain, diminished. At the same time new responsibilities are being added to local government or existing state and federal obligations are being 2018 Summary Budget – Executive Director’s Letter 8 shifted to local government. These unfunded mandates strain municipal budgets that are limited to a narrow range of revenue generating options. Over time, state and federal governments have failed to adequately invest in the maintenance and improvement of public infrastructure (bridges, storm water, roads, etc.), which increasingly will adversely affect local government. Looking ahead, Pennsylvania’s 2,562 municipalities will need to rely on their own resources to a much higher degree than in the past. There is no cavalry coming to the rescue. In the future, municipalities that are able to partner with their neighboring jurisdictions will be in a stronger position than communities that do not. Through their involvement in the Council of Governments, the Centre Region municipalities are recognized leaders in intergovernmental cooperation. The extraordinary power of partnerships is clearly demonstrated in the success of the Centre Region municipalities in constructing one of the finest and most used libraries in Central Pennsylvania, relocating the Active Adult Center to a larger facility that has more than doubled resident usage, renewing two swimming pools and turning them into financially self-supporting regional destination points, acquiring and upgrading the John Hess Softball Field Complex, constructing the 68-acre Oak Hall Regional Park with its four new softball fields and large expanses of open pastures planted with wild flowers and hopefully in the future expanding the Education Building at the Millbrook Marsh Nature Center. In broad terms, a COG is a way that local governments can work together to save money or to accomplish other public ends that a single municipality would not otherwise achieve on its own. It should be further recognized that a COG is not the formation of a “local super government” or any attempt at local government consolidation; however, it is simply a tool for local governments to use to eliminate duplication -- while in turn, providing the best possible municipal services at the smallest expense to their resident taxpayers. As the future unfolds it will become increasingly clear that the municipalities that walk the talk of intergovernmental cooperation will be more successful in maintaining a high quality of life for their residents and providing quality public services at a lower cost than local governments that have not invested the time and resources in developing these relationships. The competitive advantage that the Centre Region COG brings to the provision of local government services is being recognized by the communities surrounding the Centre Region. Benner Township is a member of the Regional Refuse and Recycling Program and beginning on July 1, 2014, Bellefonte Borough began contracting its code administration services through the COG and this July extended the service contract until January 1, 2020. Looking forward, the Benner Township Board of Supervisors is considering joining the regional Emergency Management Program as it relates to properties (primarily the University Park Airport) owned by The Pennsylvania State University that are located in the Township. The draft 2018 budget maintains, and in some areas, grows the partnerships that have enabled the Centre Region to provide: Fire protection services at a cost of approximately 17% of the national average for communities of similar size A reduction of residential refuse/recycling costs by 25% from their 1991 levels 2018 Summary Budget – Executive Director’s Letter 9 A regional Emergency Management Program that is considered to be a “best practice” by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) A popular and comprehensive Aquatics Program that does not depend on municipal tax dollars to pay for operating expenses A code inspection program that has been financially self-supporting for almost 40 years and is one of the most highly rated Code Agencies in the United States according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Over $3.1 million in state and federal grants for regional pools and park improvement projects during the last 10 years A regional transportation planning program that is successfully developing an interconnected system of bike trails that are linking neighborhoods, work places, and public facilities together. A local/regional planning program that through the use of regional growth boundary and sewer service area limiting sprawl development and preserving open spaces and farm lands. The 2018 COG Detailed Budget is below the 2.75% increase in municipal contributions target threshold set by the General Forum. The 2017 to 2018 adjustment is 2.38%. This is the fourth consecutive year the annual COG budget has been below the General Forum’s guideline. Of the 26 individual budgets included in the 2018 COG Detailed Budget, with the three following exceptions, all of the budgets are within the General Forum’s guidelines: Fire Operating ($1,019,262/12.9% increase): This budget is proposed to increase by $116,311. Two factors account for 85% of this increase – the new Equipment Technician position and an increase in the stipend paid to the Alpha Fire Company volunteers. The recommended new position received municipal endorsement through their comments provided in response to the 2018

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