The City of Williamsport Act 13 or natural gas impact fee budget was down by 37%, according to a city official.

Jamie Livermore, city finance director, recently went over the Act 13 budget for City Council ahead of the first reading at 7 p.m. on Dec. 4.

“We got about $107,000 less than we anticipated,” she said. She added how the city does not know how much it will be, estimating those figures are based on five-year averages.

The city also took the interest rates down. Additionally, the city had some levee expenses that were unanticipated, so there is a decrease by $93,000.

Scott Livermore, director of the Department of Public Works, took the paving funds from Act 13 down from $250,000 to $100,000 to be able to accommodate grants that were in play.

The city wants to ensure it has matching funds available for grants for the pump track at Shaw Place Park (bicycle park); Little League Boulevard Green Light-Go (traffic signals); remainder of the strategic management plan the city is working on, Safe Streets for All, and the Basin Street Riverwalk Connection.

“As you can see, Act 13 is going down every year,” Jamie Livermore said.

Moreover, the surplus after use of the funds is pretty low.

For next year, the estimate is $347,000 from Act 13, but that is a guess.

“Not to be a buzzkill, but I think we should take that down a little bit,” added Councilwoman Liz Miele, chair of the finance committee. “We only got $329,000 this year,” she said. “You’re not going to have an increase without an increase in drilling and I am not hearing about that happening next year.”

There may very well be more drilling occurring in outlying townships and municipalities than Williamsport.

The administration also said it will place natural gas impact fee funds for a home rule match for that process to be explored in next year’s budget.