Supervisors plan to reopen 2006 budget

Several residents expressed concern about cutting the police force.
By Mary Grzebieniak
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Union Township supervisors will reopen the 2006 budget, have reduced a full-time police officer to part time and have laid off three employees.
They also announced they will not honor the six-year police contract extension approved by supervisors after the November election, stating it is invalid.
Newly elected Supervisor Clair Damon and Supervisor Kevin Guinaugh voted for all the actions at Saturday's special meeting. The third supervisor, Pat Angiolelli, did not attend. Damon said Angiolelli called him before the meeting saying he was ill.
Damon said they reopened the budget and instituted the personnel reductions because there is so little money in township accounts that he is unsure the township can even meet payroll through March when new property tax revenues start coming in.
Carryover balance
Damon said there was a $39,000 carry-over balance left at the end of 2005. Of that, a $19,000 payroll was met Jan. 4, leaving the remainder to pay bills. With another payroll due in two weeks, cuts are needed immediately to try to make it through until March, he said.
Secretary-Treasurer Sally Byler said the money cannot be borrowed because tax anticipation notes must be applied for in November.
Damon defeated former Supervisor Steve Galizia for re-election. Galizia had stated when the budget was passed in December that the township had a $78,000 year-end balance but that some $39,329 had been used to pay January bills for insurance and workers' compensation. However, Byler questioned whether the bills paid were actually December bills.
After the meeting, Damon said that he is hoping the township can make it to March by using whatever wage tax receipts come through but that there is no guarantee. The township needs to pay the two clerical workers, four road workers, and one full- and five part-time police officers who remain employed by the township after the layoffs.
Supervisors must now prepare a new spending plan, and are to post it Jan. 21 at the township building and vote for adoption by Feb. 15, probably at a special meeting.
Police contract
Regarding the decision not to honor the six-year police contract extension, township Solicitor Gabriel Cilli explained that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that last-minute contract extensions extending through the term of an incoming board of supervisors is illegal.
Cilli said supervisors are supposed to make decisions on any contracts that expire during their term and that such an extension tries to take away their authority to do that.
In response to a question from a resident, he conceded that the township could be challenged in court for failing to honor the contract extension and may have to spend money to defend their action. He contended, though, that police would lose if they challenge the township on the matter. He added the law allows an exception only if there are considerations of "urgency and necessity."
Cilli said Atty. Richard Harper, solicitor for the previous board of supervisors, told him the previous board had never contacted him to ask whether the contract extension was legal.
Laid-off officer
The police officer who was laid off, Mike Mrozek, had his hours increased from part time to full time in November by the previous board, with Guinaugh voting against. Damon said that he has heard that Mrozek, a former police officer for the city of Pittsburgh, does a good job and that if money becomes available later in the year, "I would have no problem putting him back to full time."
Mrozek works midnights and his promotion to full time would have increased the number of midnight shifts the township is covered.
Several residents attending the meeting lauded Mrozek and expressed concern about cutting the force when township commercial and residential development has increased the need for police. Damon pointed out that even with Mrozek working full time, the township did not have 24-hour police coverage.
Supervisors also laid off clerical worker Patty Johnston and park employee Stacey Kradel. Guinaugh said they had been laid off but were recalled in November after the election.
"They should never have been called back," he said. "So we have to do the dirty work because the money is not there."
They also laid off road worker Dan Kegarise. Guinaugh said four men are employed during the winter to work the township's four trucks and take care of the roads. He said one worker recently returned from a leave on workers' compensation, making it necessary to drop the fifth worker.