Luzerne County study commission approves budget/finance recommendations

Luzerne County’s Government Study Commission approved several budget and finance recommendations Thursday.

The citizen commission is drafting a revised county home rule charter for voters to consider in November.

One recommendation would add a restriction to the county manager’s authority to transfer budgeted funds within departments.

The proposed new wording would not allow such transfers if the funds are used to create a new position or increase the salary for any position above the annual amount budgeted for that year.

Other than this new restriction, the manager would retain authority to make budget transfers, with the requirement to notify council and the controller within five days after a transfer is made.

Commission member Stephen J. Urban pushed for the transfer restriction, saying at a meeting last month the manager should be required to return to council for approval to increase transparency and council involvement in staffing changes that impact future budgets.

“You want to give the manager the flexibility to create positions, but you also have to give that mutual respect to council for controlling the budget and keeping that check and balance in play that council has to make sure the dollars are there and allocated,” Urban said.

All seven commission members approved the restriction Thursday.

Another recommendation approved Thursday would extend the deadline for annual county audits from six months to eight months following the close of a fiscal year.

Plains Township resident Gerald Cross, who had served as a consultant for drafters of the current charter, recommended the audit deadline extension earlier this year. Cross told the commission he heard complaints from auditors that the six-month deadline is too aggressive, particularly for a county this size.

A date related to the county’s annual budget adoption also would be altered in Thursday’s recommendations.

The charter says the budget must be approved between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15. The commission kept the Dec. 15 deadline but eliminated the window.

Commission member Tim McGinley said council may be in a position to approve the budget before Nov. 15, particularly in years when there is not a tax increase.

Finally, the commission recommended wording requiring “the creation and/or maintenance of a county reserve fund” as part of the county’s annual long-range operational, fiscal and capital plan.