BELLEFONTE — The Borough of Bellefonte is moving ahead with the preparation of its budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
At this week’s borough council work session, Finance Director Lori McGowan presented an overview of the Parks & Recreation and Refuse funds.
At their previous meeting, council reviewed the borough’s Streetlighting, EMS and Liquid Fuels accounts.
Parks & Rec
“There’s nothing out of the ordinary with the Parks fund,” said McGowan, who noted that the account is often a challenge to balance.
This year, they were able to do so by drawing from reserves.
“We decided to use about $10,000 of reserves to make this budget work, but everything is in there that was requested,” she said.
According to Interim Borough Manager David Pribulka, the budget is already as lean as it can be, and expenses are unlikely to decline.
“We looked at the available reserves in the park funds specifically, and we have enough reserves in the fund to cover the $10,000 gap,” said Pribulka. “So, I guess the question for council is, are you comfortable with applying the fund balance to the Park Fund to make up the difference?”
The borough could also raise taxes, but McGowan left that decision to council.
“Throughout the year, our hope is that we can operate more efficiently or get better pricing, so we might be able to close that gap if not eliminate it entirely,” said Pribulka.
The 2026 fund includes $150,365 in expenses and $140,365 in revenues, with the $10,000 from reserves closing the gap.
In the proposed budget, Matt Auman, Bellefonte Borough public works superintendent, requested $43,850 for assorted expenses, $10,000 of which was earmarked for tree maintenance, prompted by this year’s violent storms.
“With the age of all the trees in Governors Park, we are seeing a lot more need for a contractor to do the work,” said Auman, explaining the borough cannot complete the work itself.
Borough administration also allotted funds for vandalism repairs, a new addition to the budget.
“We put in a line item for vandalism repairs because we’ve had a lot of vandalism, and we thought it might be helpful to track that,” said McGowan.
The $1,000 will cover costs for broken doors, mirrors, lights, baby changing tables and other repairs.
Other costs include $500 for assorted tools and equipment, $4,000 for lighting on the pedestrian bridge in Talleyrand Park, $550 for edger and hedge-trimmer attachments, $800 for hand dryers in the upper restrooms at Governors Park, $6,000 for epoxy floor coating in park restrooms and an additional $6,000, originally earmarked for a study, transferred to bulk water.
The largest line item is $15,000 to repair brick walkways in the borough that have become unsafe.
Refuse
In the borough’s Refuse Fund, $1,308,035 in revenue is projected, with an additional $57,000 to be drawn from reserves. Total expenses and transfers, meanwhile, are expected to reach $1,365,035.
“We’re anticipating an income from this year, and there’s a shortfall for next year, so it pretty much balances itself out,” said McGowan.
As of Monday, she had not received a cost estimate for services from the refuse and recycling transfer station.
“So we’re going forward kind of blind in that area,” she said. “If they have an increase, it’s just a direct pass-through. They bill us, we bill the customers.”
Further information on the cost is expected at a future meeting.
McGowan said the borough is considering expanding grass and brush collection next year due to the service’s popularity. They also plan to increase capacity in other ways. The borough recently leased a garbage truck, with loan payments included in the budget, and has hopes to hire an additional staff member to split duties between the Streets and Refuse teams.
“They have found they are sending a person down to Refuse quite a bit, so we did put that in,” said McGowan. For the new hire, money has also been allotted to cover CDL costs if the employee does not already have a license.
Other budgeted Refuse Fund items include $12,000 for a tub grinder rental, $500 for tools and equipment and $3,000 for building maintenance, which will cover exterior painting and interior updates to the employee building.
Fee Schedule
During their voting session later in the evening, borough council ratified an updated fee schedule for the borough. The new schedule includes a $30 Special Event Application Fee, which had been in effect but not previously listed publicly, and a Corning Water Line Tap Fee recently approved by the Authority. That fee is $5.04 per gallon, or $763.75 per EDU (151.45 gallons).
The full fee schedule can be viewed on pages 127 to 133 of this week’s agenda packet, available online at bellefonte.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Bellefonte-Borough-Council-Packet-October-20-2025.pdf
