Apollo tax hike approved, office hours cut until manager hired

As expected, Apollo passed its 2019 final budget with a 26 percent real estate tax increase but, because of cuts, the borough has to curtail its operating hours to the public until they find a borough manager.

With the loss of its full-time borough manager in a difficult budget process, the borough’s office hours have been reduced starting today: Hours now will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, instead of 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at least through December, according to borough council Vice President Diane Bradshaw.

During its special meeting Monday night, council unanimously approved a 3-mill tax hike from 11.65 mills to 14.65 mills for its 2019 operating budget of $512,000 budget.

For a home assessed at $20,000 in Apollo, it means the homeowner will pay $293 in real estate tax next year, which is an additional $60 compared to this year.

As borough council passed its most contentious budget in years, some of its members are most concerned with filling its borough manager job, a full-time position council got rid of last month in a 3-2 vote.

Then, earlier this month, council voted 4-3 to rescind the elimination of the manager’s position.

However, the new position is part-time and current manager Cynthia McDermott worked her last day in the office Tuesday. With accrued time-off, her tenure is officially over later this month.

An advertisement was placed for a part-time borough manager/secretary in the last week, according to Bradshaw.

“We’d like to say we will have someone by the end of December, but that is unlikely,” Bradshaw said.

“We feel it is our most pressing need,” Bradshaw and council President John Kautz said Tuesday.

Mayor Cindee Virostek said she was concerned about who was going to take care of some of the most basic functions such as payroll at the end of the month.

However, there was some good news.

Council did find and agree on a new auditor, Ed Opst, who will replace Joe Estermeyer, who resigned earlier this month.

The borough still needs a new solicitor. Timothy Miller resigned earlier this month as did one of its meter enforcement officers, Ronald Bash.

Council formed a new personnel committee to oversee filling open positions, according to Kautz.

Councilman John Steele will head the committee with members Ashley Stiffey and Nancy Walker.

Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Mary Ann at 724-226-4691, mthomas@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MaThomas_Trib.