The chamber of commerce is getting a bailout from the borough as it prepares to put on the community’s elaborate Fourth of July festivities. However, these funds may be the last that the chamber gets for the next few years, as the borough encourages the organization to become self-sustaining.
At its May 23 meeting, the borough assembly approved the chamber’s request of up to $25,000 to help fund Fourth of July festivities.
All assembly members except David Powell voted in favor of the additional contribution. Assembly Member Brittani Robbins abstained from the vote, since she is the chamber’s outgoing executive director.
Mayor Patty Gilbert voted to approve the funding, but suggested a caveat — next year, rather than giving the chamber its annual appropriation of roughly $27,000 for general expenses, the money would go to the Economic Development Department, under director Kate Thomas. Thomas could then partner with the chamber to ensure proper use of the funds.
“That’s about the only way I can reconcile it in my mind, in terms of spending additional taxpayer money,” Gilbert told the assembly. “Some taxpayers don’t want their money to blow up in fireworks, is the comment I’ve heard.”
Robbins claims she had no idea that the chamber was losing money until early this year and feels that the organization was justified in its request.
“The city has to contribute,” she told the chamber board at its May 2 emergency meeting. “The amount of money that the city gets out of the events that we put on … there’s got to be a kickback. We get nothing back from the city. The $25,000 contribution is laughable.”
The $25,000 request was in addition to the $27,000 the borough already contributed to the organization for its general expenses this year.
The chamber originally requested these extra funds at a special assembly meeting May 1, but the assembly voted to postpone their decision until they could hold a public hearing, which was scheduled for May 23.
Former chamber board member Mya DeLong was the only person who spoke at this hearing and she criticized the organization’s management. “Not only mismanagement of funds, there’s mismanagement of the focus, mission statement, time and energy,” she said. “They were buying binders, pens and other useless items.”
“I don’t think the city should use our tax dollars to reward bad behavior,” she continued. “I think we should find a way the city can run the Fourth of July.”
Assembly members also expressed uncertainty about the chamber bailout. Powell criticized spending money on a holiday celebration, since the borough recently raised the rates on all its utilities to cover the cost of its aging infrastructure.
“It’s our taxpayer’s money,” said Powell. “Our rates, have gone up, our (property) assessments have gone up … while I’m not totally against this, I’m just very concerned with it.”
Borough manager Jeff Good assured assembly members that if the funds were approved, the chamber would not be given free rein to spend them as it saw fit. The $25,000 would be “very targeted,” he said, and go only go toward fireworks, utilities and insurance premiums.
“I feel better having a reimbursement, rather than just a blank check,” said Assemblymember Anne Morrison, “having it come through the approval of the (borough) manager before that’s paid back.”
Assemblymember and outgoing chamber director Robbins said the organization is working toward financial stability. “I have canceled dozens of subscriptions for software that were completely unneeded and a waste of money,” she said. “We’ve been reaching out to larger companies about memberships … the chamber has rebuilt rapport with the bars to increase pull-tab sales and we’re in the process of requesting a change in our (tax) status.” Changing the chamber’s tax status could allow the organization to pursue grants.
“We’re not currently at a high risk of dissolving anymore, which is exciting,” Robbins added.
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