J - Monroeville

employed person which decreases the tax collected for the Municipality. The tax hasfluctuated in recent years but has decreased approximately $100,000 since 2008.6) Business Privilege/Mercantile License Fee: It is interesting to note that the businessprivilege and mercantile license fees have increased $5,000 and $1,500 respectively since2008. This is an indication that more businesses are moving into Monroeville, albeit,probably smaller business that do not generate as much revenue as larger corporatebusinesses, of which one (1), Westinghouse, has moved from Monroeville, or others whichare not generating the income they did before the economic downturn.7) Regional Asset District Tax (RAD): The RAD tax is the one percent (1%) sales taximposed by Allegheny County for regional asset support of cultural, sport, educational, andamenities. The municipalities of Allegheny County receive a share of this tax to supportsuch services. This tax has increased $85,000 (16 percent) from $485,000 to $530,000.8) Building Permits: Building permit revenue significantly increased in 2009 and 2010because of the building of the UPMC hospital. This revenue has fallen since those years,but has remained on an upward trend which is a good indication that business andresidential building is slightly increasing.)9)Recycling: The increase in revenue for recycling grant and collection of newspaper andcans is two fold: the grant amount has increased because Hough and Associates, theeastern PA Company the municipality contracted with last year to collect commercialrecycling data, has captured commercial recycling tonnage that ordinarily would bemissed. This is due to them comparing and reconciling the commercial recycling reportswith the waste hauler. This has increased the commercial tonnage from 1,163 in 2009 to2,579 for 2010. Even though the commercial tonnage more than doubled, the grant awardhas only raised $3,400 because solid waste haulers have used landfills in adjacent statesand consequently PA has lost disposable tonnage and fees. On the residential side(mostly newspaper), the increased amount is due to the Municipality taking the residentialrecyclable to the Neville Island recycling site and receiving payment where in previousyears it was costing the municipality to dispose of the recyclables. In addition, if themunicipality were able to add 1,000 residential tons (which is possible with a bigger bin,weekly collection, and some education) the grant amount could increase from $24,000 upto $39,000, The bottom line is that Monroeville is in a position where increasing residentialtonnage (newspaper) would have a dramatic effect on recycling grant awards. Themunicipality is being held back in these grants because it does not have a recycling truckwith compression capability to collect newspaper from residents. This option will beexplored in 2012 through either leasing a recycling truck or purchasing with a grant.10)Fund Balance: Monroeville has a fiscally responsible fund balance policy for the GeneralFund. In 2010, the policy was to maintain 15 percent of the fund in reserve. TheGovernment Finance Officers Association (GFOA) recommends a General Fund reserveof between 5 percent to 15 percent, however, during the 2011 Budget process, due tobudgetary constraints, Council decided to relax that policy and reduce the fund balancereserve to 10 percent. This gave Council and Staff a financial "well" from which to draw tobalance the 2011 Budget and not raise taxes or diminish services. The Budget for 2012,·3·