Two city pools won’t open in Bethlehem next summer and the city may start charging admission for out-of-town visitors to the park surrounding one of those pools.
The two pools are in Westside Park and Saucon Park.
Because of its proximity to Interstate 78, Saucon Park primarily is used by out-of-state visitors on summer weekends.
Council member Eric Evans said those visitors are welcome, but create a financial cost for the city, which is why he is proposing a per-vehicle admission fee to be charged to non-Bethlehem residents.
Evans said some of those visitors cause noise, parking and litter problems for city residents who live near the park.
The plan, said city parks director Ralph Carp, “is to basically take back the park.” He said problems in that park on summer weekends have become drastically worse in the last several years.
Both the two pools and the park were discussed Thursday night as City Council made changes to the proposed 2015 budget.
During what was billed as its final budget meeting, council also removed $40,000 from the budget that was earmarked for the 275th anniversary celebration of the city’s founding, despite an appeal by Mayor Robert Donchez to keep $20,000 in the budget.
Council president J. William Reynolds suggested the mayor was asking City Council to raise taxes so he could throw a party.
Cuts totaling $196,487 were made to the budget by City Council during the meeting, according to a tally kept by Mark Sivak, the city’s budget & finance director.
As things now stand, the proposed 6.2 percent property tax increase for 2015 will be reduced to 5.4 percent, said Sivek. That means instead of paying about $50 more a year, owners of average-priced homes in the city will pay about $43.50.
More cuts may be made or, less likely, more spending may be authorized when City Council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
That will be the last chance for council members to amend the proposed budget before council approves it at the same meeting.
One amendment will address the administration’s much-debated increase in the tax on event tickets.
Council member Cathy Reuscher plans to propose that the amusement tax only be charged on tickets costing more than $25, rather than on tickets costing more than $10.
She said she will propose that, not only in response to concerns by non-profits about the impact the increased tax will have on their ticket sales, but also to ease the burden on families who attend such events.
She did not ask for action on her budget amendment Thursday because she wants to make sure her proposal won’t have a negative impact on city revenues.
“I would like to continue to research this until Tuesday,” said Reuscher.
Fewer than a dozen residents attended the meeting and three of them were there to talk about the amusement tax increase.
Closing pools
Evans proposed the budget amendment to close two “highly under-utilized” swimming pools, which will save the city $47,868 next year.
He recommended the city mothball the Saucon and Westside pools and develop a plan to replace them with splash parks.
That budget cut, which did not name specific pools, was approved by a 4-3 vote.
Voting with Evans were Reuscher, Bryan Callahan and Louis Stellato.
Reynolds, Michael Recchiutti and Adam Waldron voted no.
Evans said operating six pools is costing Bethlehem hundreds of thousands of dollars every year for electricity, lifeguards, chemicals and other supplies, maintenance and improvements.
“Saucon Park pool is not used at all during the week; it’s virtually empty,” said Carp, the parks director. “Same thing for Westside.”
The parks director said there has been a steady decline in attendance at all city pools. Evans said that decline has been going on since the 1970s and ‘80s.
Evans said all sections of the city still will have pools, because two are on the west side of town and two are on the south side.
He said west Bethlehem residents can go to the pool at Clearview Park and south Bethlehem residents can go to the pool at Yosko Park. Officials said both are only about a mile away from the pools they plan to close.
Evans said four pools should be more than enough for the population of the city.
He said Allentown, which is larger than Bethlehem, has four pools and some surrounding townships have only one.
Waldron was concerned because “the public has not had a chance to weigh in and give their opinion.” Reynolds agreed, saying there needs to be “a public vetting of the different options.”
Evans said 100 people could show up at a City Council meeting to say they use the pools and can’t do without them, but nobody has been using the pools for years.“The public speaks every day when they’re not there.”
He said the city’s recreation commission unanimously voted to support closing the two pools.
Carp suggested mothballing the pools, then evaluating the impact on the community to assess how to move forward.
He said when Westside Pool had to be closed in 2010 and 2011, there was little public outcry.
Evans said the two mothballed pools could be put back into operation if the city decides to reconsider their status, adding filling them in and replacing them with splash parks would not be done for at least a year.
Carp said a splash park in Yosko Park cost the city about $100,000, but indicated splash parks at Saucon and Westside could be done for less.
Evans said the Saucon Park pool is used on summer weekends, but not by city residents.
Saucon Park
Saucon Park is at the south end of Bethlehem, just a short distance off I-78.
Evans said the park is very quiet on weekdays but heavily used on weekends and holidays, but mostly by people who do not live in Bethlehem.
He reported that at 1 p.m. on Aug. 9, when he and the mayor visited the park, they checked about 100 vehicles.
They counted 67 with New Jersey license plates, 16 with New York or Maryland license plates and only 23 with Pennsylvania plates.
He said they talked to some people and found none that were there with Bethlehem residents.
It’s almost seen as a state park, said Evans.
Added Donchez: “We also have buses coming in from New York, New Jersey and even Maryland. It’s a problem that has to be addressed.”
Evans said most of those hundreds of visitors are law-abiding, but some are causing problems in the park.
“It results in a very large clean-up expense for the city’s taxpayers.” He said it takes a crew of six a total of six hours to clean the park after a day when it is heavily used.
He mentioned litter, illegal pit fires, cars parked in no parking zones, damage to restrooms and very loud music.
One woman who lives near the park told Evans the music is so loud on weekends that if she opens her windows she can’t hear the TV inside her home.
“We know we have a problem and the problem has grown bigger over the years,” said Carp, the parks director. “It is drastically worse now than it was seven years ago.”
Evans proposed allocating $45,000 in the 2015 budget so the city can better control what goes on in the park and help preserve it.
He suggested the administration develop “an ambassador system” of temporary summer employees who work for the parks department and proactively enforce park rules.
Those employees also would collect admission fees at park entrances, money that would be used to help for the park ambassador program.
Evans suggested the amount of admissions revenue collected should equal the $45,000 cost of his proposal.
Reynolds said he is not against the concept, but expressed skepticism about including money in the 2015 budget for something that doesn’t exist yet.
Reynolds said the $45,000 requested is based on a future revenue fee — the admission charge — “that the administration hasn’t proposed.”
“I’m not sure why it needs to be included in the budget,” said the council president.
Evans decided to withdraw his motion, but warned his council colleagues: “We can’t wait until April or May to press this issue. Then it’s too late.”
Mayor Donchez said he has asked the parks director to prepare a plan for the park that can be presented to City Council in January.
275th celebration
Donchez initially wanted $40,000 in the budget for the upcoming celebration of the 275th anniversary of the founding of Bethlehem and the 100th anniversary of the merger of three boroughs to create the city.
He was willing to reduce that to $20,000.
Council voted 6-1 to remove the entire anniversary allocation from the budget. Only Stellato voted against doing that.
“I wouldn’t put this item in the budget if it wasn’t necessary,” said the mayor. “I just felt we needed some seed money in the budget to try to get this off the ground.”
That celebration is expected to continue for a full year, from June 2016 until June 2017.
Donchez said it will include a gala dinner, probably in the Sands Event Center, for 400-500 people.
He told council a $9,000 deposit may be needed to reserve the events center.
“Are you asking us to raise taxes to throw a party?” asked Reynolds.
“The answer is no,” said Donchez. “This is not to throw a party. I certainly am not advocating raising taxes just for a dinner.”
Reynolds didn’t back down, saying Donchez will use some of that the money to make down payment for a dinner for no more than 500 people in a city with 75,000 residents. “Less than one percent of Bethlehem residents will be able to go there.”
“If we’re going to spend any taxpayer money it should be something that everyone can enjoy, not just 400 or 500 people who are lucky enough to get an invitation,” said Waldron. “I just don’t see taxpayer money being used to pay for a party for the elite.”
Donchez said the city would not be paying for that banquet or determining who gets invited. “That would be up to the committee,” he said adding, he does not have the staff to do it.
A small committee, chaired by Lynn Cunningham of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce, already has begun meeting to begin planning for the double anniversary celebration.
The mayor said that committee will seek corporate sponsors for the celebration, but added getting such sponsors is not easy.
“We have agreed with the administration on more than not,” said Reynolds. But he added when the city is making tough decisions, eliminating positions, trying to do more with less and facing a tax increase, that administration was asking for money for an event that won’t begin for another 18 months.
Donchez said he wanted to see if City Council wanted to be part of the anniversary celebrations.
“I don’t think any tax dollars should be spent for this,” said Reynolds.
For Bethlehem’s 250th anniversary, said Donchez, the city budgeted $45,000 a year for several years and Mayor Kenneth Smith had a full-time person on his staff to plan and coordinate the celebration.
Donchez acknowledged the 275th anniversary of the founding of the city is not as significant as the 250th and said the celebration won’t be as elaborate.
Less park maintenance?
Evans attempted to restore money in the budget that is used to hire students to do summer maintenance in city parks.
He said that budget item had been around $21,000 in previous years, but was cut to $8,000 for 2015 by the administration.
Evans called that a significant decrease.
He proposed increasing it to $20,000 to give the city more temporary summer help.
Evans said only budgeting $8,000 could result in more overtime costs for other park employees or less park maintenance.
David Brong, the city’s business administrator, said that budget cut was made against the wishes of the park director.
“Do we want to be a summer-time employer for our local high school and home-coming college kids?” Brong asked council. “Or is it important that we have a healthy income statement?”
Carp said $8,000 means the city will only have 2.5 seasonal workers helping to maintain parks rather than seven.
Five votes were needed to increase the budget item.
Evans only got four. Reynolds, Waldron and Recchiuti voted against his amendment.
Police amendments
Recchiuti proposed budget amendments cutting $5,000 for police munitions and $5,000 for police operating supplies.
He said firefighters and an EMS position are being cut in 2015, but “police have felt no pain in this budget whatsoever. They came through unscathed. They didn’t have any cuts.”
But Recchiuti withdrew the munitions budget cut after Police Chief Mark DiLuzio told council ammunition prices are rising, saying the cost for a box of .40-caliber rounds has increased as much as 30 percent.
And the council member withdrew the operating supplies cut after DiLuzio said that includes uniforms, leather gear, equipment and bio-hazard/chemical gear.
“Whatever you give us, we’ll utilize,” said the chief. He said in one substation only one of three computers works and the department does not have the funds to replace the other two.
One other $5,000 cut Recchiuti proposed in the police department’s budget — for gasoline — unanimously was approved.
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