FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) — The Venango County Economic Development Authority spent a large portion of their Tuesday morning meeting discussing budget issues.

Two possible budget proposals were presented by Economic Authority Director Emily Lewis, one accounting for an additional staff member and one without the addition of a new staff member.

Comparisons of the authority’s original proposed budget for 2018 versus the year’s expenditures and a breakdown of line items added or changed in the two possible 2019 budget proposals were the focus of a lengthy discussion.

“There were some things that weren’t included in that budget that the county ended up having to pay for anyway, such as workers compensation, pension fees, and professional fees for the payroll. Those are not in our original proposed budget,” said Lewis.

Lewis noted that the items were all covered by “shaving off” some other areas of the budget, and were all accounted for in the two 2019 budget proposals.

The question of whether or not to consider the budget including an additional staff member took up very little of the conversation.

“That’s quite a bit of an increase over where it was at the previous year,” board member Rod Griffin noted concerning the budget proposal including a new staff member.

“It’s truly going to end up being how much can the county afford to put in this thing. We’re going through the entire budget process right now, and it’s a very, very, very tight year,” said County Commissioner Vince Witherup.

“I think we need more time under our belt to see what it is you’re able to produce before we go out and jump into getting an assistant at this level of dollars, or any level of dollars, basically,” Griffin added.

The board approved a motion to present the proposed 2019 budget that did not include an additional staff member to the County Commissioners after a number of changes, including the addition of lines for the payment of property taxes for the Cornplanter Square building, fees for social media management by Gibbons Business Solutions, and revenue from rental payments from USA Choice, have been made.

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business, the board:

• Approved a motion to engage Gibbons Business Solutions to manage a VCEDA Twitter page at a rate of $175.00 per month.
• Discussed requesting a new contract with a reduced scope from Cranmer Consultants.
• Discussed researching and creating a meal reimbursement policy.
• Received an update from director Emily Lewis on the grant application for the eAcademy. Lewis said there is no guarantee they will receive the funding, but it is a positive sign that the project manager is continuing to ask questions and show interest.

The economic development authority board meets at 10:00 a.m. on the third Tuesday of each month in the conference room of the Courthouse Annex in Franklin.