The borough assembly at a special meeting Monday evening considered a $25,000 appropriation to help the chamber of commerce afford this year’s Fourth of July celebrations. However, assembly members voted unanimously to postpone the decision until the May 23 meeting, saying they wanted to hold a public hearing.
The chamber requested the $25,000 in addition to the $27,000 that the borough contributed to the chamber’s general budget this fiscal year.
“We have a lot of concerns moving forward,” said Borough Manager Jeff Good, including what the previous $27,000 was used for, how the chamber plans to fund future Fourths and the organization’s strategy for staying solvent in the coming years.
Though the chamber has been drawing on savings to balance its books since 2016, Chamber Board President Bill Burr explained that declining pull-tab revenues and diminished royalty fundraising raffle ticket sales over the past few years have brought the chamber to a breaking point. “We are running the risk of not being able to do pre-funding for the Fourth of July,” he said.
However, he and chamber Executive Director Brittani Robbins said they aren’t just asking for a bailout — they are implementing major adjustments to make the organization self-supporting again, like changing the chamber’s tax status so it can apply for grants, amending the royalty competition rules, adding sponsorships and fees to the Fourth celebration and cutting chamber staff.
Robbins has started working at Sweet Tides bakery while she trains chamber administrative assistant Luana Wellons to take over her role. “Giving up my position at the chamber to save them money is a really difficult decision that I have to make,” she said.
Despite the chamber’s plans to regain solvency, assembly members were reticent to fund its request without holding a public hearing. “There’s no public process,” said Assemblymember David Powell. “Any time we give money away to our budget process, we have a public hearing. We didn’t do that this time and I have a serious problem with that.”
“I like the merits of it,” agreed Assemblymember Ryan Howe, “but I want people to have notice.”
If the assembly approves the funds later this month, they would be used for expenses like fireworks, pavilion utilities and insurance premiums, but not for prize payouts and wages. Under the terms of the assembly resolution on Monday’s agenda, the borough manager must approve all expenditures before reimbursing the chamber.
The total cost of the Fourth celebration, including prizes, fireworks and supplies, comes to around $100,000, making the event the chamber’s largest yearly expenditure. As of early April, the chamber had an estimated $34,000 in all of its accounts, according to Robbins.
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