West Mifflin budget furloughs 12; mayor may veto [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Dec. 29--West Mifflin council approved a $13.16 million budget Tuesday that calls for laying off 12 public works employees by the end of this week.

Mayor Chris Kelly said he will veto the 2012 budget. While a veto won't nullify the furloughs, it will allow a new council to review the budget in January.

The budget had allowed for 18 job cuts in an effort to trim $1.5 million in spending. Because six borough workers will retire Saturday or are on leave, council instead opted to lay off 12 employees, all in public works, which has 43 employees. The 12 will be furloughed effective Friday.

Borough manager Brian Kamauf said the public works department "clearly took a huge hit" and the decision was difficult. "You know, we're always going to look to bring these people back," he said.

The layoffs still didn't close the gap, though. The borough had to use more than $500,000 in reserve accounts to balance the budget.

Commercial reassessments are to blame, Mr. Kamauf said, especially that of Century III Mall, which is being devalued.

In January, the assessed value of the mall was lowered from $58 million to $30.6 million, reducing revenue to Allegheny County, West Mifflin Area School District and the borough by roughly $1 million. It was the second consecutive year the value of the mall was lowered. In 2009, the borough lost $390,000 in income when the mall won an appeal of its assessment. At that time, the value of the mall was reduced from $112 million to $58 million. Mr. Kamauf said the mall's current value is $27 million.

Additionally, other revenues are down and expenses have continued to rise over the past several years, he said. The borough no longer is receiving more than $1 million in revenues each year, Mr. Kamauf said, noting that the borough gave back roughly $620,000 in refunds just this year.

But Mr. Kelly said council didn't do enough to generate revenue and announced Tuesday he plans to veto the budget. The mayor needs a reason to veto a budget, Mr. Kelly said. "My reasons are that we've not done everything in our powers to fine-tune this budget," he said. For example, he said, he has repeatedly asked council to get additional quotes for insurance, but members have not been willing to seek other vendors.

Upcoming county property reassessments also are a concern. The mayor called them a "double-edged sword," as lower-income areas are likely to see a reduction in home values when county officials complete the assessments this spring, he said.

Molly Born: mborn@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1944.

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