MUNCY - Muncy Borough Council members approved a $912,200 balanced budget for 2013 with no tax hike.
The budget passed 6-0. Council member Dana Bertin was not present.
This year's budget keeps real estate taxes at $3.5 million - a relief after the 0.5-mill increase used to balance last year's budget.
"Though our proposed budget was also balanced, we did make some changes before accepting the finished budget. As we continued to discuss this year's plan, there were a few oddities that needed to be added," President Elaine McAleer said.
Council was able to create a balanced budget by moving money the emergency relief fund into other areas. About $20,000 was taken from the fund and used to fund part-time police and street maintenance.
"Essentially what you're agreeing to is that $912,200 is our expected income," McAleer told council.
"We obviously can't plan exactly for every expenditure - who is to say how much we will spend on utilities next winter - but we can make an educated estimate," she added.
Another topic discussed at the Tuesday night meeting was the need to purchase updated radios for members of the borough's police force. Police Chief Richard Sutton explained that the current radios are old and lack some basic safety features.
"This is becoming a safety issue," Sutton said.
"In the last six months we've 'Tazed' more people than we have in the last three years," he added, before explaining that identifiers would allow emergency personnel to pinpoint which officer is in trouble, and where, based on the radio he or she is using.
Updating the current radios would cost about $200 a piece, according to Sutton. He suggested that the police could give their old radios to another department, such as maintenance.
Council unanimously approved $4,500 for the purchase of five new radios.
