Tensions rise in State College over proposed tax increase and vacant job discussions
As the State College borough council grapples with a large tax increase in next year’s proposed budget, one council member’s discussion about cuts to vacant positions has drawn sharp criticism from other elected officials and Centre County leaders.
The 2025 proposed budget includes a three mill real estate tax increase, which would average less than $15/month, Evan Myers, council president, said during Monday’s council meeting.
During a budget work session last month, Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said the tax increase is needed after years of having budgets that aren’t structurally balanced. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve tried to pass budgets without increasing taxes to allow residents and businesses to recover and used one-time revenues in place of tax increases, he said. After 2025, borough residents are likely to see tax increases in 2026 and 2027, he said, as they continue to work to achieve a structurally balanced budget.
The council has met several times to review and discuss the budget, which includes $77.8 million in expenditures and $64.3 million in revenues. When the council reviewed the Human Resources part of the budget in mid-November, they saw the budget included funding for 21 positions that are currently vacant — some of which have been unfilled for years. Fountaine said they’ve been working to recruit for the positions but have had trouble filling them.
Council member Gopal Balachandran asked if those positions were essential since the borough had survived for years without them. Myers said that wasn’t something the council could figure out during that meeting, but said the staff could look at it.
Fountaine said the workload justifies maintaining the positions and they’re not prepared to recommend that any positions be removed from the budget.
The issue has grown from there. Council member Josh Portney called into the Tor Michaels Show, a radio show hosted by Tor McCartney, on Nov. 27 and Dec. 3 to discuss numerous items, including the borough’s budget. Portney explained the borough is facing rising pension costs and utilization of health insurance. He also said the vacant positions should be looked at.
“We already have 200-plus employees now; the boat is sailing pretty smoothly. I know that our departments are crunched because, you know, when it comes to staffing, everybody’s always short and there’s always a need for more staff,” Portney said on the Dec. 3 radio show. “But I think the question is really, some of these new positions that are going to be filled in this new budget are authorizing positions that have not been filled in four or five years. And so looking at whether or not we can make that a part-time or cut money here, or cut money there. ... I think that’s going to go a long way in decreasing or eliminating this tax increase.”
The discussion prompted Seven Mountains AFL-CIO executive officers to issue a statement on Dec. 4 rescinding their endorsement and support of Portney.
“This proposal, along with other recent and disturbing statements made by Mr. Portney, are inconsistent with the values of the labor movement, inconsistent with the values of our chapter, and inconsistent with the values Mr. Portney claimed when he sought our endorsement in 2023,” the statement reads. “It is our belief that union endorsements are given in trust to candidates and public officials that have demonstrated that they stand with working people. We believe that there should be a high standard to earn them.”
The Centre County Democratic Committee and other local Democrat Facebook pages initially shared the statement and said it was “unfortunate that State College Borough Council Member Josh Portney has strayed so far from his commitments that the Seven Mountains Labor Council has rescinded their endorsement.” The posts have since been deleted.
In a text message Wednesday, Portney said he is “disheartened” by the Seven Mountains AFL-CIO’s decision to rescind the endorsement but that he remains committed to the working people in State College. He pointed to his role in the council passing the Responsible Contractor Ordinance as an example.
“My actions in support of working people and organized labor speak louder than any words could,” Portney said.
‘Extremely serious’ or misrepresentation?
During his radio interview, Portney said he had gathered support from, or at least spoken to, a few council members including Kevin Kassab, Nalini Krishnankutty and Matt Herndon. But those members said that is not factual.
Myers said he had heard from each of those council members and addressed it during Monday’s meeting.
“These kinds of actions have broken the trust of many folks on council toward Mr. Portney and I mentioned that to him as well, and are working together to get the people’s business done. It raises issues about violations of council’s code of conduct and ethics, and will require a serious look in this regard as we move forward,” Myers said.
While Portney may be focused only on financial responsibility, Myers said he believes their foremost duty as elected officials is the “safety, security, welfare and justice” for residents. Financial responsibility fits into that, but can’t be viewed alone, he said, and it wouldn’t be financially responsible to eliminate, or cut back on, positions that are critical to providing services.
“The approach to slash government jobs without analysis as to the consequences and without regard to the impacts, without thinking at the last moment, is precisely what the incoming Trump Administration is attempting to do, and I don’t think we want to be there,” Myers said.
Furthermore, Portney’s suggestion that he may have enough votes on council to go through with his proposal is “extremely serious,” Myers said. Council business should be done in a public meeting and by saying that on the radio “can be extremely destabilizing to our staff,” he said.
Portney said Myers’ comments were misrepresenting what he had proposed. He said he never suggested they eliminate any positions.
“I did not allege or suggest the elimination of any positions. It is a misrepresentation. I said ‘cut back,’ meaning convert to part time or look for contracted services. I think that’s clear,” Portney said publicly during Monday night’s council meeting. “... I think it’s a misrepresentation. I think I’m disappointed by it, but I’ve made my comments clear.”
Portney reiterated Wednesday in a written message to the Centre Daily Times that he never proposed outright eliminating positions.
“At no time did I propose eliminating any Borough jobs outright, and I am disheartened that Council President Myers would publicly misrepresent my position in the manner he chose to do on Monday evening,” Portney said in a text message. “He is often known to read the quote ‘You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.’ I couldn’t agree more, and it is ironic that he feels entitled to his own facts regarding this discussion.”
Herndon, Krishnankutty and Kassab all said Portney’s earlier statements regarding their support were not true. Herndon said it was “surprising and disappointing” when he heard Portney used his name because he didn’t remember saying anything about supporting the proposal.
“When I support something, I will say so,” Herndon said. “Anyone who has watched council meetings in the last year should be crystal clear that I have no problem speaking up for myself, and I request that other members of council not attempt to put words in my mouth, particularly in forums where I’m not even present to rebut a false claim. If you do misinform the public about what I support, please correct yourself as publicly as possible.”
Krishnankutty said she spoke with Portney and he agreed he misspoke and said his intent was not to convey that a discussion had taken place. Kassab said Portney apologized for using his name as well.
“My thought was with these positions … looking at ones that have been open for three, four, five years, and do we really need them? That was the question. It wasn’t a decision. It was something I just saw and I was just questioning. So again, I just want to make that comment real clear,” Kassab said.
This isn’t the first time the council has had issues with Portney speaking out on things. Last month State College Mayor Ezra Nanes addressed a “crisis of trust” on the council after Portney held a press conference about his concerns related to the Solar Power Purchase Agreement, and called it a “financial scandal” on the Tor Michaels Show in September. (Portney and McCartney both work for state Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township).
“I will continue to show up for our community and do the people’s work, and hope that my colleagues will move beyond this and pledge to do the same,” Portney told the CDT.
What are the positions in question?
Fountaine previously provided the council with a list of 21 positions that have been vacant but would be included in the 2025 budget. On Monday he stressed that list was just a snapshot and not an ongoing reflection of where they are in the process. Several of them have since been filled, or are in the process of being filled.
“Several of those positions have been filled. Several others we have offers currently pending, and we are in the interview process to fill a number of those vacancies. ... Some of those vacancies are fairly recent in occurrence,” Fountaine said.
The original list included positions like purchasing and risk management director, IT systems administrator, homebuyer/rehab management specialist, transportation planner/engineer and three police officers, to name a few.
It also included an assistant borough manager and borough engineer, both of which have been vacant since 2020 or 2021.
“The assistant borough manager was intentionally left vacant while we worked hard to fill other positions first, so that the work that needed to be done in those areas was being done. But we do need to fill the assistant borough manager position. It is an important part of our municipality, and one that has been in place for quite a while now, going on about 20 years,” Fountaine said. “The engineer position is also a critical position … that provides design services, but also manages projects and a number of other functions and we currently have other employees within the public works department that are performing parts of two different jobs to fill that work.”
Engineering positions have been hard to fill in Pennsylvania and around the country, Fountaine said, based on conversations he’s had with other municipalities.
The council is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Monday and is expected to vote on adopting the 2025 budget.
