When one budget is trimmed, it can directly affect another, and that's a fact the Tamaqua Chamber of Commerce will face at the end of the year.

During a meeting Thursday members of the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership said they would be reducing a monthly fee paid to the chamber from $1,600 to $800.As a result of the revenue drop, Linda Yulanavage, executive director, said that the chamber will have to reduce operating expenses. The chamber has two full-time employees, Yulanavage and secretary Eileen Barron. Both positions may have to become part time.The monies had come from a portion of a TACP grant specified for payment of the grant's administrative costs. TACP was paying the chamber a monthly management fee to handle the paperwork associated with the grant, such as bookkeeping and filing."Our funding has been reduced so we'll have to reduce the contract amount," said Micah Gursky, who heads TACP. He is also Tamaqua Borough Council president."We've always had a good partnership with the chamber, but we're in a position now where we have to reduce what we're paying."(The monthly fee) had helped their budget over the years, but we had to look at our budget," he added. "We (TACP) get a lot of private donations, but most of the grants we have or may get going forward are capital improvement grants, and they don't include administrative costs."The monthly payment reduction will be effective January 2015."TACP agreed to keep making the same payment until the end of the year," said Pat Freeh-Stefaneck, chamber board president. "We're going to be all right, but we have some work to do.""It's not just a Tamaqua issue," Yulanavage said then. "A lot of chambers are scratching their heads."Now more than ever the community needs to show their support of the chamber and support its activities, Freeh-Stefaneck said.