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Luzerne County Council Chairwoman Linda McClosky Houck has added a voting meeting to Tuesday’s work session to encourage the first decisions on the 2017 budget.
Tuesday is the last opportunity for at least six of the 11 council members to reach some consensus before the Dec. 13 budget adoption. A council majority rejected McClosky Houck’s proposal to start voting on budget amendments this week.
Council members must find $9.95 million in cuts or new revenue if they want to avoid a proposed 4-percent property tax hike, new $5 vehicle registration fee and permanent elimination of a homestead break for primary residences.
McClosky Houck wants to vote on lump-sum cuts or additions by division, instead of making line-by-line budgetary changes. The county manager would then decide how to shift around the revised allocations to cover departments within each division.
The approach is similar to 4-percent, across-the-board spending reductions proposed by Councilwoman Kathy Dobash, but McClosky Houck said she would base cuts on feedback managers presented during budget work sessions instead of supporting the same flat reduction for all.
“My suggestion is to be a little more specific and careful about how we’re cutting in each division based on our talks with them,” McClosky Houck said Wednesday.
She stressed she is “only one vote” in deviating from the traditional passage of amendments reducing specific budget lines, from supplies to payroll.
“If a council majority wants to do it line-by-line we will, but I talked to some council members who were happier for a simpler version that is more in line with the philosophy of our home rule government, where the council is not bogged down by day-to-day management,” she said.
Dobash also has proposed packages reducing spending $2.087 million in addition to eliminating the vehicle registration fee. Councilman Harry Haas had suggested $917,727 in reductions and $14,900 in additional revenue. Council members Edward Brominski and Eileen Sorokas also submitted proposed amendments, and McClosky Houck said more are expected before Tuesday.
Tuesday’s meeting, which includes a public budget hearing, will begin at 6 p.m. at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.