BUDGET Farrell's financial outlook improves

Farrell ended 2003 with a healthy $124,812 fund balance.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
FARRELL, Pa. -- The city may be rated as a financially distressed municipality by the state, but local auditors say the financial picture is improving.
Thomas Libeg of Libeg, Gargano, Bell & amp; Associates of Hermitage presented a summary of the city's 2003 budget audit to city council Monday, noting that the bottom line is improving.
Farrell ended 2002 with just a $17,000 budget surplus but finished 2003 with a balance of $124,812, Libeg said.
Likewise, the city's sewer fund had a $41,609 surplus in 2003, he said.
Jim Hughes of the accounting firm noted that the city paid off its last general fund bond issue debt in 2003 and now has only $2,138,411 in sewer fund debt, which is being paid off by sewer fees, not the general fund.
The city also has some outstanding vehicle loans totaling about $60,000.
Sewer debt going up
City Manager LaVon Saternow said the sewer debt is likely to go up about $490,000 next year because the city will be required to make major improvements to its Keifer Drive sanitary pumping station.
The city will have to borrow from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, a quasi-state agency set up to help fund municipal water and sewer projects.
The debt will increase the residential sewer bills by $5 every two months, or $60 a year. A Farrell family of four pays about $600 a year now for sewer service.
Work at the pump station includes installing larger pumps, replacing some sewer line and putting in an emergency generator.
The state has yet to approve the final plan, but work is expected to be completed by June of 2006.
Bicycle patrol
City council voted to come up with $8,000 to outfit a bicycle patrol unit for the Southwest Mercer County Regional Police Department. That's enough money to buy two bicycles and related equipment and provide training for officers.
Council took the action to beef up patrols in high crime areas, particularly Idaho Street, where residents have complained about suspected open drug trafficking, assaults and other crimes.
Southwest Regional provides police services for Farrell and three other municipalities, and Police Chief Riley Smoot gave Farrell City Council three options to finance the additional patrols.
One would involve assigning current full-time officers to extra patrol duty for the rest of the year at a cost of $79,000. A second would be to use part-time officers for the extra patrols at a cost of $23,100.
The third was $8,000 to set up the bike patrol unit. Smoot said he will rearrange shift schedules to provide extra patrols covered by bicycle. The unit could be operational within two weeks, he said.
gwin@vindy.com