In the borough’s budget most of the attention gets put on the general fund because that’s what’s paid for through taxes. The proposed general fund budget for this coming year is balanced with just about $2,000 left over from projected revenue.
The draft budget is for spending about $9.46 million ($9,464,831). That’s a decrease of less than one percent from this year.
A number of general fund departments are proposed for small increases, like the Fire Department, which is budgeted for about $40,000 more than this year.
The borough is proposing to spend about $30,000 of that to replace 21 automated external defibrillators. Those are portable devices used to save people who are suffering from heart failure. The current ones are 20 years old.
Ryan Welde is the borough’s Fire Marshal.
“The companies that produce them will no longer service them, they don’t stand by them, so it’s time to get new ones,” Welde said.