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WILKES-BARRE — With the help of a $3 million Tax Anticipation Note the city came out ahead to start the new year.
The draft financial report for January showed the city had a more than $1 million balance to close out the month.
Revenues totalled $3.8 million, ahead of $2.8 million in expenses, according to the report.
The TAN, taken out annually to carry over the city until tax payments arrive, accounted for the majority of the revenues in the $49.4 million balanced, general fund budget.
Mayor Tony George did not raise property taxes in his spending plan for his third year in office, but, instead, increased user fees and froze wages for most city employees.
Contract negotiations are ongoing with City Hall and Department of Public Works employees. As a result of arbitration firefighters received a 3-percent pay raise through a staggered award for their two-year contract that ends this year. Wages increased on July 1, 2017 and will bump up again on July 1. The collective bargaining agreement with police that runs through the end of 2019 guarantees them annual 3-percent raises.
Against the labor relations backdrop, the price residents pay for garbage bags rose by 60 cents at the beginning of the year and the hourly rate for meter parking doubled to $2 with the aim of bringing in approximately $1 million in additional revenues.
But the line item revenue entries for garbage bags and meters were far short of the percentages needed to meet the annual totals.
The city budgeted $1.6 million in revenue for its garbage bag program for the year. To reach that figure, the monthly revenues should average 8.3 percent of the total. In January, the city collected $37,027 or approximately 2.3 percent.
City Administrator Ted Wampole said the figure is low because vendors who sell the bags likely had inventory left over from last year that they were selling at the higher price. Toward the end of the first quarter the city should get a better reading on how the bags are selling after vendors restock their supplies, Wampole said.
The percentage was higher for the parking meters, but lower than the monthly average to break even. The city budgeted $1 million in revenues and collected $42,304 or 4.2 percent for the month.
Wampole pointed out that with the higher rate, the revenue was approximately 25 percent above the $34,299 that was brought in in January 2017.
He offered a number of reasons to explain the parking revenue. Not all of the nearly 900 meters were recalibrated until Jan. 10, Wampole said. “School was not back in and we did have some bad weather,” he added.
In addition, the higher meter rate was sending some people into the parking garages that charge less, Wampole said. “They do also show an increase” of a couple thousand dollars, he said.
The city began to tap into its budgeted overtime for the year for various departments.
Among the costs listed in the report were:
• Police criminal investigation OT, $1,217 of the $40,000 budgeted.
• Police criminal investigation SID OT, $2,521 of $60,000 budgeted.
• Police patrol division OT, $8,726 of $175,000 budgeted.
• Ambulance services OT, $1,171 of $65,000 budgeted.
• Building inspection OT, $1,515 of $40,000 budgeted.
• DPW snow and ice removal OT, $19,235 of $50,000 budgeted.
• DPW snow and ice removal double OT, $3,801 of 15,000 budgeted.
• DPW waste collection OT, $1,136 of $75,000 budgeted.