Tempers flared at Emsworth Council's regular meeting on Wednesday during a normally routine item on council's agenda.

When it came time to approve the boroughs bill’s for the month, finance committee chairman David Heflin questioned two of the expenditures on the bill list, neither of which had received pre-approval from council.

The first was $321 for an appreciation dinner held for former borough solicitor Mike Marmo. The second was the painting of two of the borough's trucks at a cost of $1,500.

Heflin said that he did not know that the dinner -- reportedly attended by council president Maria West, member Paul Getz, Mayor George Rossi, treasurer Rebecca McNeil and deputy tax collector Kathy Taschner -- was at borough expense. He said that he thought anyone attending would be paying out of pocket.

West and council member Ed Politylo said that paying for a dinner was a tradition when a tax collector or solicitor resigned.

The second expenditure, approved by council member Connie Taylor, was to paint two trucks that had rust damage. Taylor said that the public works employees came to her and asked her to sign off on the expenditure.

Heflin said that expenditures should be pre-approved by council, rather than ratified later, as required by state law.

West said that because Emsworth was a small borough, "not everything runs like the book says."

Heflin said that these expenditures easily could have been foreseen and pre-approved. He said that committee chairs should have a system in place to help project expenses so that council can approve them.

Referring to Heflin's statement earlier in the meeting about tightening the borough's belt on expenditures, Taylor asked Heflin why the borough donated $32,000 to the fire department for equipment .

Emsworth Volunteer Fire Company president Joe Koehler said that the fire company also has tightened its belt since it stopped having bingo fund-raisers. He thanked council for the donation.

Later in the meeting, resident Kevin Yurkovich said that he did not believe that taxpayers should be paying for officials to attend dinners.