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Final budget session gets specific

Now that Warren City Council has heard from the departments that provide community services – police, fire, public works, etc. – Tuesday was the time to hear from finance. So the discussion during the final budget session council held focused on budgeting, debt service and, unsurprisingly, taxes. Finance Director Donna Risinger told council that the city’s pension contribution requirement is higher looking to 2020. While the majority of that funding comes from the state, Councilman John Lewis identified the city’s portion as approximately $250,000. New calculations of ...

Good year for investment in Warren

Commercial investment is happening in the City of Warren. That was part of the budget message that Terry Williams, the city’s codes, permitting and recreation services, brought to Warren City Council during a Tuesday budget meeting. She said it has been a “good year for the City of Warren as far as construction projects,” noting the value of permits handled in 2019 has been “$5,775,775 spent as of last week on commercial projects in the city.” That can include anything from upgrades at the courthouse to the Clark Street development to new roofs on existing ...

Ahead of the pack

Warren County’s most recent audit has come back clean. Cory Johnson and Brian Chruscial, partners with the Pittsburgh office of Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC, discussed the audit with the commissioners during Monday’s work session. “(Fiscal Director) Eric (Hern) and his team stepped up this year,” Johnson said, noting that the audit was completed sooner than it would in a typical year. “(We are) getting close to have an unmodified clean opinion. The plan is to get there in 12 to 18 months,” he said. “Everything is clean.” The issue he cited ties to capital assets and ...

Parking strategy

City of Warren officials have proposed increased parking meter and parking garage rates as part of a 2020 budget proposal designed to improve parking downtown while also raise revenue. The proposals were discussed during a budget work session held on Wednesday at the municipal ...

Business to Business Food challenge is on

The average mid-size sedan weighs 3,351 pounds. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average tractor-trailer combination weight is about 35,000 pounds and most payloads average about 40,000 pounds. Those numbers tend to put things in perspective when you realize that it takes about 57,000 pounds of food to feed children enrolled in the Warren County School District BackPack program for one school year. It’s that time of year to see which business can outstuff the others when it comes to filling backpacks with nutritious food that helps get students through ...

Appeal to Nature

A permit reauthorization for treated coal ash disposal at the Warren Generating Station site dominated discussion at Wednesday’s Warren County Commissioners meeting. And the commissioners are pushing for a public hearing on the matter. The permit application was filed through the ...