Politics & Government
Forest Hills Council Celebrates Achievements, Looks to Cut Costs
Council celebrated a first-place award and the 30th anniversary of a crime watch group at its public meeting on Wednesday, but concerns about rising costs loomed.
At the Forest Hills Borough Council meeting Wednesday, the agenda shifted tone from congratulatory to cautionary as officials acknowledged recent milestones and warned of difficulties the borough will face moving forward.
In council President Frank Porco’s opening report, he held up a plaque the borough received for having the top-ranked website among boroughs statewide. The award comes from the Pennsylvania Borough News, a magazine published by the Pennsylvania Association of Boroughs.
Shortly after, Mayor Marty O’Malley delivered a proclamation acknowledging the 30th anniversary of the Neighborhood Crime Resistance Committee, a grassroots organization that has monitored and sought to reduce crime in the borough since April 1981.
But after resident Jim Busa took the podium to air his concern with a proposed ordinance that would increase residents’ sewage fees from $3 to $3.60 per thousand gallons of water, the focus shifted back onto the financial problems the borough faces.
“That’s a significant increase; my sewage bill is already double my water bill,” Busa said. “How did you arrive at that number?”
Citing financial constraints, council member and finance committee chair Markus Erbeldinger said the options were scarce; and even with the increase, the borough would still come up short.
“Basically, our sewer work is expensive,” Erbeldinger said. “This year alone, we would have a deficit.”
Erbeldinger said federal EPA mandates require repairs to the sewer lines. And because residents have largely improved their efficiency of their water usage, he said, the amount of money the borough receives from its fees has decreased.
“There are government-mandated things we have to do,” Erbeldinger said. “We can’t just push it off.”
The measure, which council plans to vote on at next month’s meeting, highlights a growing concern about the rising costs of maintaining local infrastructure and services. Faced with additional expenses, the borough has turned to levying fees on its residents, like the to pay for a new fire truck that cost the fire department $750,000.
“The fees are really beginning to add up at this point for us old-timers,” Busa said.
Earlier this month, borough officials met for the first time with a group comprised of representatives from neighboring municipalities to discuss ways in which they might reduce costs by sharing resources, an effort referred to as “regionalization.”
The meeting, which followed last month’s vote against conducting a study that would have assessed regionalizing police services between Forest Hills and Edgewood, included University of Pittsburgh Professor David Miller, who teaches in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
Forest Hills will host the group's next meeting from 6 to 7:30 p.m. June 1 at the Westinghouse Recreation Center.
Porco, who was absent from the intial meeting, said he supports regionalization as a way for local governments to better serve its constituents.
“I personally think that this very much is going to be our future,” Porco said. “You come to these meetings, and I think the one consistent theme always is lack of resources, financial and otherwise—and that’s just to barely keep up with the work that we’re mandated to do.”
Opponents of regionalization often fear that communities will lose their individual characters under such arrangements, but Porco said he’s convinced that won’t happen.
“I was born and raised here,” he said. “I want it to stay Forest Hills; I don’t want it to change in that sense. But I do believe there is a way to reduce costs.”
Council convened for a closed, executive session after Wednesday night’s meeting to discuss collective bargaining negotiations under way with its public works employees. Council expects to discuss the negotiations, which are being led by Bill Tomasic, during next month’s public meeting.
In other borough matters, council scheduled a volunteer clean up day at its parks from 10 a.m. to noon April 30, and is asking residents to pitch in. Council also scheduled a strategic planning meeting at 9 a.m. on June 11. The meeting is open to the public.