Oakmont passes 2024 budget with no tax increase

Oakmont Council members approved a 2024 budget in a 6-0 vote with no tax increase Dec. 18.

Council member Patty Friday was absent.

The budget includes more than $5.4 million in expenditures with about $5.1 million in revenue. The budget calls for the borough’s millage rate to stay at 3.73 mills. Property owners with an assessed value of $100,000 will continue to pay $373.

“(The millage rate) has not been changed in, I think, 13 years,” council President Nancy Ride said.

Manager Scot Fodi said the majority of the borough’s revenue comes from its real estate tax, as well as earned income and local service taxes.

The borough plans to maintain a fund balance throughout the year to help close the $300,000 deficit, Fodi said. The fund was started by cash forwarded from previous years’ budgets when the council overestimated expenditures and underestimated revenues, he said. He predicted the borough will have about $690,000 in the fund balance by the end of 2024.

Notable expenditures include the addition of a full-time police officer scheduled to start in January. The borough also plans to replace a 2009 truck in the Streets Department.

Fodi said $30,000 will be dedicated to the maintenance of the Kerr Museum. He said a bigger project of the year will be waterproofing the museum’s basement. The borough has the option to ask the Kerr Foundation for support, if needed.

The borough’s paving program is valued at about $375,000, $194,000 of which is coming from the state.

Between road, brick and sidewalk repairs, the paving program and the stormwater fund, the borough is planning to spend just under $1 million in infrastructure.

The borough’s current capital reserve is $954,374, Fodi said. Some of the money will be put toward future projects, and a portion will be dedicated to Parkview EMS. From the capital reserve, the borough has amassed an emergency reserve of $300,000.

The borough has been using three- and six-month CD investments and have been receiving 5% quotes each month.

The borough still has about $370,000 left in American Rescue Plan Act funds that need to be dedicated to a stormwater and infrastructure project by the end 2024.

Council unanimously voted to contribute funding to a drone show for the borough’s 2024 Hometown Christmas celebration because of the success of the first show in 2023, Fodi said.

Residents can access a link to the budget at oakmontborough.com to read the budget summary by the end of the week.