Feb 13, 2026 By Jon Andreassi 3 min read

After elected officials spent much of the new year crafting a new budget, South Strabane Township will ultimately adopt the original 2026 spending plan approved in December.

The township’s board of supervisors held a special meeting Wednesday evening for the purpose of adopting the revised spending plan, but at the outset solicitor Dennis Makel explained that it had not been properly available for public view.

“The whole budget was not available, either online or here at the office. Based upon the second class township code … It’s my position that the whole budget had to be available for review; it wasn’t. So I recommend no action be taken on that today,” Makel said.

Municipalities have to have their budgets approved by Feb. 15. Supervisor Bob Weber asked Makel to clarify what this means for the township.

“What folks need to hear, we need to hear too, does that mean the previous budget approved in December takes effect?” Weber said.

Makel confirmed that was the case.

“Now keep in mind, according to law, the budget is a guide,” Makel said. “As I said before, you have the ability to transfer funds after March 31 to different accounts based upon different circumstances, but it’s just a guide.”

Weber and Supervisor Russ Grego had voted against the efforts to revise the budget. George Rowand, Jeff Bull and Zack Morgan were in favor.

Bull said Thursday that the budget had not been available due to an administrative error.

“Our staff member who posts the things to the internet evidently didn’t do it right,” Bull said, declining to identify the employee.

The original budget expects $8,738,521 in expenses and $8,772,600 in revenue. Supervisors voted to open the budget at the start of the year after Morgan took his seat on the board.

With the revised budget, supervisors were planning to cut the position of administrative assistant and public safety specialist, a cost of $68,800, as well as the entire $10,000 allotted for parks and recreation programming.

South Strabane Fire Department Chief Jordan Cramer had previously criticized the decision to eliminate the public safety specialist position, arguing it would damage the agency’s emergency preparedness.

When reached by phone Thursday, Cramer was hopeful the snafu meant funding for the position would remain intact.

“I haven’t been notified otherwise by the supervisors,” Cramer said.

However, Bull said supervisors could still potentially make those cuts.

“We’re going to put on the agenda to make the changes that we discussed,” Bull said Thursday.

The township’s board of supervisors will hold their regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 24.