Murrysville scales back capital project plans amid pandemic's financial effects
The effects of the covid-19 pandemic have thrown budgets of all types into upheaval, and Murrysville is no exception.
On Wednesday night, Finance Director Diane Heming detailed how the municipality’s five-year capital-improvement plan was scaled back in light of pandemic-related financial projections, including a sharp decline in state money raised through fuel taxes.
“Our allocation will be lower,” Heming said. “We’ve been told it could be anywhere from 25% to 40% lower.”
Liquid fuels money is primarily used for road projects.
Heming said measures to keep finances in check have included shifting tax millage to the town’s general fund that would normally go toward capital projects, scaling back the general fund to include only essential services, and a six-week furlough of some staff members.
Shifting the tax millage will bring in an additional $550,000 each year for capital projects but Heming said the capital plan — which is updated each year, pandemic or no — will need fresh funding down the line.
“If there isn’t some kind of new revenue funneled into this plan, by 2023 we’ll have used all of our reserve funding,” she said. “We need roughly $5 million over the (2021-25) period.”
Over the course of the current five-year plan, major projects include the purchase of 12 new fully-equipped police vehicles, $9.8 million in road work, public works equipment purchases and the construction of an amphitheater at Murrysville Community Park.
The municipality secured a $299,000 state grant that expires in 2022 to help fund the amphitheater project, which also includes bathrooms and additional parking.
“We would like to do that (project) so we don’t lose the grant money, and that will also finish the bond money borrowed for that specific purpose,” Heming said.
A million dollars in capital funding for the town’s parks will be spread out over the five-year period, targeting one park annually for not just maintenance issues, but community-sourced upgrades.
“We want to know what the community wants to see: tennis courts, basketball courts, whatever it might be,” Heming said. “Then we can try to replace playground structures with those desired needs.”
If council approves the amended capital improvements plan, Heming will use it as the guide for developing a general budget in the fall.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.