Scranton Mayor-elect Bill Courtright expressed disappointment Tuesday that city council failed to amend the 2014 budget to raise some salaries and add two positions.
But he wouldn't say if he would reopen the city budget next year to make the changes himself.
The amendments died Monday when council did not override Mayor Chris Doherty's veto of council's changes to his $130.2 million budget.
The amendments included raises and an extra position in the business administration office that would have been funded with a grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development and was recommended by the city's Act 47 recovery coordinator, Pennsylvania Economy League.
These business administration changes, which would have restored cuts made by council a few years ago, included raising the next business administrator's salary from $53,550 to $85,000; to increase the next business administration office's finance manager's pay from $37,400 to $50,000; and to add the position of staff assistant at a $35,000 salary.
Mr. Courtright said he will meet with his transition committee to see how to proceed.
"It's a little disappointing that the DCED was going to give us this money to fund these positions and now we don't have it," he said. "Now, it's not in the budget. We're going to take a good hard look at the budget and see how to proceed."
The three councilmen returning next year, Pat Rogan, Jack Loscombe and Bob McGoff, supported the amendments, while council President Janet Evans and Frank Joyce opposed them. The amendments died because a veto override would have required a minimum of four of five council votes.
Other council amendments that died included raising the mayor's secretary's salary by $5,000, to $36,085, and offset this by decreasing the council solicitor salary by $5,000, to $40,000; reversing Mr. Doherty's slashing of the next fire chief's salary from $67,228 to $50,000, and cover this hike by cutting Department of Public Works refuse bureau overtime; and reducing the number of DPW refuse collectors from 27 to 26, and adding a DPW refuse supervisor at a salary of $30,000.
In opposing these council amendments, Mrs. Evans and Mr. Joyce said that if Mr. Courtright wants those changes to occur, he could reopen the budget after he is mayor.
During the budget debate, Mr. Rogan cited a Nov. 27 memo from PEL Senior Research Associate Joseph Boyle to DCED Executive Director Frederick Reddig recommending that the city apply for an Act 47 grant to cover the increases in the business administration office. DCED appoints and oversees PEL as the city's Act 47 recovery coordinator. Prior cuts to the business administration office hurt its ability to function properly because the business administrator has been reduced to "performing accounting functions," including acting as an accounts-payable contact and a financial analyst, when the business administrator should be focused on overseeing the city's Act 47 recovery process, the memo stated.
The grant would total around $150,000 to cover raises in the existing positions for two years, and 100 percent of the salary for the new position in the first year and 50 percent in the second year, the memo said.
If Mr. Courtright and the next council seek the DCED grant in 2014, PEL Executive Director Gerald Cross said Tuesday they would support it.
Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com, @jlockwoodTT on Twitter