Borough considers 2026 tentative budget, hears report from auditor
SHENANDOAH – Shenandoah officials heard a report from their auditor Monday night with suggestions for how to prevent fraud and theft at borough hall.
L. Sam Deegan reviewed the borough’s 2024 audit at the regular township meeting.
He said the borough’s budget in 2024, removing the revenue from the sale of the Municipal Authority of the Borough of Shenandoah and a $250,000 grant for road improvements, had a deficit of $177,000, with $2.7 Million in revenue and $2.8 Million in expenditures.
Deegan, an accountant from Pottsville, offered tips regarding internal controls that can be added at borough hall to prevent fraud and theft.
“What we try to do is cut down on the opportunity [for theft,]” Deegan said. He provided a printed report to council which he referred to.
“We really should start getting people that have two-year degrees in accounting to work in the office,” Deegan suggested. “Establish procedures for approving vendors, people in the office can come up with a fake vendor and send them a check and it might be their cousin or something like that.”
He also suggested cross-training employees and having employees rotating duties.
Council President Joe Boris asked Deegan how this year’s audit compared to prior years. Deegan said last year’s audit ran a $600k deficit.
“Some of that was people paying checks right at the last minute all the time,” Deegan said.
Borough Manager Mike Cadau commended the employees in the office.
“What Sam is saying, I think that’s great for us to be vigilant and for us to watch out, but there is nothing that I have seen come out of that office besides hard work with these girls,” Cadau said.
Budget Discussion
Cadau also conducted a presentation for the 2026 tentative budget, which they plan to adopt next Monday.
The budget has expected revenues of $3,159,980.36, and expected expenses of $3,158,305.73.
These numbers do not include MABS sale revenue or grants the borough is expecting to receive. They plan to spend $1 Million in MABS funds next year.
Cadau said they plan to spend MABS funds “on only borough improvements.”
The lion’s share of planned MABS revenue spending — $800k — is for road repairs. Another $100k will be used for demolition and $100k for the Pumping Station Dam.
Cadau says they expect to carry over $4.3 Million of MABS funds into 2027.
The budget also includes $140,000 in expenses labelled as “Union Township Taxes.” The borough is taxed on ex-MABS property where the Locust Ridge Wind Farm operates, just as MABS was. MABS had previously been reimbursed by the wind farm’s operator, Avangrid Renewables, for those costs.
The budget also assumes $1 Million in grants next year and, if received, Cadau said they plan to purchase the equipment necessary to handle street paving in-house.
It also factors in a $1/mo increase for trash and sewer bills.
A special meeting to adopt the budget is set for Monday, Dec. 22 at 7pm.
Property Swap On Hold
Borough officials had planned at November’s meeting to swap several parcels to Trendsetters Investments, LLC, in exchange for the J.W. Cooper Memorial High School lot at White and Lloyd Streets.
The properties the borough would be giving up included the former Shenandoah Abbatoir site at Poplar Street and Abbatoir Road, the former Jefferson School site and West and Centre, and an empty lot on Union Street where a row of homes burned in 2016.
Solicitor James Crossen discussed the matter and said the property swap would now involves the Schuylkill County Redevelopment Authority.
The borough would give the properties to SCRA who would give them to Trendsetters.
Legal questions have risen and Crossen suggested rescinding last month’s resolution while those are worked out.
Pumpy Pavilion and Well Bids Tabled
Borough council also considered bids for a project to build a pavilion and dig a well at the Pumping Station Dam in East Union Township, owned by the borough.
The borough received a $77k grant for the project.
The low bid came in at $105,845 from HPCI, Kulpmont.
Council tabled the matter as a result.
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