Last year, Columbia Borough Council discovered it's in a deep financial hole. The cause: An $11 million debt from a municipal bond project undertaken by a previous council. (Additionally, there is the looming possibility of taxpayers owing millions for the McGinness Innovation Park project, further exacerbating the financial strain.) The burden of this debt has fallen directly on borough taxpayers.
The bond issue arose again (indirectly) at the October 24, 2023 meeting when a resident asked if there will be a tax hike for 2024. Borough Manager Mark Stivers said the municipal tax rate will stay at 8 mills for 2024, but Council President Heather Zink stated that council can't say that definitively, because the budget hasn't been finalized. (The plan is for council to vote to adopt the budget at the first voting meeting in December, according to Zink.)
Backtracking to the October 20, 2022 council meeting: Zink said that property taxes will go up, along with obligations.
Here's another reason for concern:
Last year, council had to resort to borrowing $1.358 million from reserves to balance the budget and avoid a tax hike. At that time, there was about $2 million in reserves.
The current financial crunch dates back to 2016 when council, with Kelly Murphy as president, voted to approve a series of general obligation bonds totaling over $9 million to pay off debt and for capital projects. Unfortunately, the debt has since been draining borough coffers, leading Stivers to admit at the 2022 meeting, "We've been borrowing money to pay the bond" and describing it as an "albatross."
Stivers asked council to consider a "16-year plan" to pay off the debt. As an option, Zink suggested a special tax levy, which could entail raising taxes 1.5 mills to make annual payments of $691,000 for 16 years. ($691,000 multiplied by 16 equals $11,056,000.) Currently, no plan has been enacted. Bizarrely, Stivers said council has been "blessed" with the opportunity to solve this problem.
A budget meeting scheduled for November 16 has been canceled. The budget will now be discussed at the November 9 work session.
The current financial crunch dates back to 2016 when council, with Kelly Murphy as president, voted to approve a series of general obligation bonds totaling over $9 million to pay off debt and for capital projects. Unfortunately, the debt has since been draining borough coffers, leading Stivers to admit at the 2022 meeting, "We've been borrowing money to pay the bond" and describing it as an "albatross."
Stivers asked council to consider a "16-year plan" to pay off the debt. As an option, Zink suggested a special tax levy, which could entail raising taxes 1.5 mills to make annual payments of $691,000 for 16 years. ($691,000 multiplied by 16 equals $11,056,000.) Currently, no plan has been enacted. Bizarrely, Stivers said council has been "blessed" with the opportunity to solve this problem.
A budget meeting scheduled for November 16 has been canceled. The budget will now be discussed at the November 9 work session.
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