With the hope that other municipalities will follow suit, Emsworth Council voted last Wednesday to withhold approval of the 2010 Avonworth Community Park budget because of questions about payments that included some $5,000 in year-end employee bonuses

There are a total of five municipalities - Ben Avon, Ben Avon Heights, Emsworth, Kilbuck, and Ohio Township - that contribute taxpayer funds for the operation of the park. Emsworth is the second highest contributor next to Ohio Township, with a yearly budget for the park in the area of $25,000, according toEmsdworth Council member Paul Getz.

Getz said that should enough municipalities withhold approval, the park will not have a budget.

Getz said that the Avonworth Municipal Authority, at its January meeting, approved two bonuses for employees totaling $5,000. Getz said that a $500 donation also had been given to a member of the authority board for work that was done in the fall.
Those payments, Getz said, were not budgeted, and borough officials want to know whether the practice will continue and how tax money will be spent before approving the new budget.

"It's big, it stuck out, and it's taxpayer money," Getz said.

Getz said that this is the first year that "performance reviews" were performed and resulted in the park's two main employees -- Megan Galbraith and Jennifer Heflin -- receiveing year-end bonuses of $2,500 each. He said that he was informed by Ed Gould, the authority's secretary, that the bonuses were given because the employees went above and beyond what they were supposed to do.

The $500 donation, according to Getz, was given to committee member Bill Tyler for spreading asphalt millings at the park in the fall.

Getz said that officials do not want to have a say in the policy-setting process at the park, but want to see the corresponding paperwork regarding the policy that the authority board has implemented.

"We don't want to micro-manage the park," Getz said. "That's the authority's job."

Emsworth declined to approve the borough’s park contribution in a 4-2 vote, with council members Amy Adams and Dan Lenz opposed. Council member David Heflin, whose wife received a bonus, was absent. Voting to reject the budget were council president Maria West and members Getz, Connie Taylor and Ken Kroen.