SHAMOKIN - "D-Day" is how City Clerk Dave Kinder described the month of June during a special meeting Tuesday evening to discuss the town's financial crisis.
Kinder, who announced earlier this month he would resign in May because of stress and long hours experienced with his job, pleaded with Mayor George Rozinskie and Councilmen William Milbrand, R. Craig Rhoades, William Strausser and Michael Snyder to take immediate action or else the city will not have enough money to meet payroll and pay bills.
"Come every September and October, we hold bills for six months and that's part of why I resigned," he told them. "Come September, I refuse to sit here and pretend everything is alright. If council and mayor think things are fine, they are mistaken. It's not because the treasurer or the controller
or myself haven't told council, it's because council hasn't taken any action."
Controller Gary Haddock reported that on March 31, the city had $83,000 in outstanding bills. That total was knocked down Friday to $22,000 when several of those bills were paid.
"It will just keep on ballooning," he told council.
Treasurer Brenda Scandle presented a bleak report that says the city will be $18,931 short of making payroll in June. Things could get worse, she added, as the city would need $100,000 by the end of the year just to make it back to "zero."
Council discussed asking the Shamokin Youth Basketball League (SYBL) to help offset expenses at the American Legion Building on Independence Street. The majority of the upkeep costs come from the city's general fund, while heating bills are paid through the recreational fund.
Scandle reported that although SYBL does not pay rent, it frequently donates money towards heat bills, including a recent donation of $2,000. Rhoades said he would talk to Legion members for assistance.
"No one is talking about making cuts. We can talk about revenue until midnight," a frustrated Kinder said. "When it comes to making payroll or paying for the American Legion, what do we do? Gary (Haddock), Brenda (Scandle) and I don't have a vote. Somebody needs to do something."
Milbrand recommended the city renegotiate lower insurance rates for the police and street departments.
"I say it all the time, we pay the best of the best insurance. What's wrong with second best?" he said. "We can't afford that Cadillac. We might have to drive a Subaru."
Milbrand also suggested the city bring someone or something into the city to attract new business and boost economic development. Scandle interrupted and sarcastically said a new business would have to be established by June to avoid not meeting payroll.
In the only bright moment of the meeting, Scandle reported that compared to this time last year, $50,000 more in taxes has been collected. She attributed the increase to the recent press reports that said the city would soon be broke. She cautioned, however, that the amount of taxes collected will fluctuate and council should not count on the same amount of cash flow.
"We are maxed out on millage. There's no place else to get the money from," Snyder said. "Where do we get it from?"
After the hour-long meeting, council went into an executive session to discuss two personnel matters.