MARYD - Concerned citizens in Schuylkill Township want to see more municipal budget figures in the meeting minutes handed out at monthly meetings.
Among them was Paul Benulis, Brockton, who on Wednesday once again asked the board if it would list more of its budget information in the minutes it makes available to the public. He made the same request last month.
In the minutes made available at Wednesday's meeting, the supervisors summed up its balance for May in one line: "Balance in all accounts as of May 31st, 2014 is $385,272.03."
At its June meeting, Supervisor Christine Verdier said the supervisors don't have to provide any more budget information in the minutes handed out to the public at monthly meetings.
"It's not required is basically what we're saying," Verdier said.
On Wednesday, Dan Gray, Brockton, complained about this in a prepared statement.
"We have repeatedly asked for line item budget reports, a simple and reasonable request. And you tell us you won't because you don't have to. One of us 'little people' even showed you how other municipalities do it, and offered to help you set it up. He even offered to personally pay for paper and ink," Gray said referring to Benulis.
"Well, I'm sure of one thing. You'll never be able to use the IRS excuse of a hard drive crashing since you also refused to put it all online. It's our money you're refusing to account for. Why are you forcing us to file Freedom of Information Act requests and charging us the maximum amount? Why are you padding answers with extraneous junk and copies of copies?" Gray asked.
The supervisors did not respond to Gray's questions.
Citizens curious about municipal budgets can request information about them through Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law, which guarantees the public's right to access and obtain copies of public records held by government agencies, according to the website for the Pennsylvania News Media Association at www.panewsmedia.org.
Benulis said he recently submitted a Right to Know request to the township for financial records related to its garbage collection income and expenditures.
He's suspicious of the way the township has been billing customers in recent months. He said he believes this year's garbage bills are unusually high.
In 2013, the township hired Kreitzer Sanitation, Orwigsburg, for a two-year contract totaling $170,880, or $85,440 per year. There are 540 households in the township and each should pay $158.22 per year for garbage collection. But each household is being required to pay $185 per year, Benulis said.
When he asked the supervisors about it in June, supervisors Chairman Charles A. Hosler said the higher rate provided the township with a bit of insurance.
"There's no guarantee we're going to get everybody," Hosler said.
On Wednesday, Benulis asked about the matter again, and the supervisors gave him another reason why they set the rate at $185 per household per year.
Hosler said the $158.22 figure Benulis came up with was "just the garbage fee."
"What about all the time that she spends on it, the envelopes, everything else that comes out of there. Where does that come from?" Hosler said, referring to Mary E. Bubel, the township secretary/treasurer.
"Hold on. She's here anyway. That's what you call a fixed rate," Benulis said.
"When you're in a business, you don't just charge everything just because they're there. You charge it to a specific account," Hosler said.
"The truth is, and Mary, this is nothing against you, we are paying her anyway. Did she work more hours this month?" Benulis asked.
"I most certainly did," Bubel said.
"But it's fixed labor. And I'm not even going to go down that road. But I've been bringing this up for the last three months and I'm going to keep bringing it up until we get the answer. Every month I've been getting a different answer. Last month, it was there's no guarantee everyone's going to pay," Benulis said.
"There isn't," Hosler said.
"That does not mean you charge everyone else more. It doesn't work that way. And I'd like to see your numbers that make it work out to be $185. If there's other charges, show me them. And I don't want to see them dated today. I want to see them dated when you voted on it, which I believe was in February, or maybe it was last year," Benulis said.
Also during the public portion Wednesday, citizens from Brockton, including Michelle Teetz, requested more police coverage.