Despite three months of being buried in snow, Coaldale has managed to keep its head above water.

Like other area boroughs and townships, during the first three months of 2014 Coaldale has exceeded its yearly budget for winter staples such as heating oil, salt, anti-skid material, outside contracting for snow removal and repairs to borough trucks. But by applying vigorous cost-cutting measures, the borough has managed to cover the additional costs and remains solvent.And that's without taking out tax-anticipation loans to cover expenses during the first quarter, which the borough did in prior years.Borough secretary/treasurer Andrea Davis, hired in October 2013, has streamlined the daily operations of the office, which includes implementing several cost-cutting measures. Davis, who has a Bachelor of Science in business management and various certifications in accounting, finance and customer service, grew up in Lansford and is a decorated veteran of the Air Force, where she was an intelligence analyst."One of my main goals and major undertaking was to consolidate 21 bank accounts to 12, which was vital to operating procedures," Davis said Wednesday. "With the approval of council, as well as the direction of the borough auditor, I completed numerous internal audits."Once you consolidate accounts and have sizable accounts, you also get special fees, commissions and policies that are subject to change, and these changes can be hard to track if you have your accounts spread out," she said. "Having your accounts in one place means you can easily keep track of changes that can impact the borough's money."Also, accounts of a certain amount may qualify for certain perks, such as free services or reduced fees, plus the monies can accrue greater interest. The borough had about $145,000 in various accounts which has now been moved to the borough's general savings account, where it will earn greater interest.In addition, by consolidating accounts, Davis has been able to reduce the number of hours she was spending on bank reconciliations from two days a month to two hours a month. She also took over the sanitation billing in January and set up an online payment system at

www.coaldaleborough.org."Time is money, and that's 168 man-hours saved annually," Davis said. "And the citizens like the automatic payment system for the garbage bills because they can set up recurring payments each quarter."While examining the history of past accounts, Davis noticed that some vendors had been charging the borough tax even though the borough is tax exempt. Some of the vendors have agreed to reimburse the borough, which so far has recovered about $4,000. She also revamped the borough's communications network, getting rid of pagers and changing phone systems, saving about another $4,000.Does this positive fiscal report mean that the borough can restore three full-time police officer positions? In 2012, borough council voted to furlough three full-time officers, Keith Krapf, Todd Weiss and Charles Blesse, and two full-time road employees. Since then, the borough has maintained 24-7 police coverage by using part-time officers.In August 2013, the three officers filed a lawsuit in Schuylkill County Court stating that the furloughs are in violation of their contract terms and seeking back pay. In November 2013, Angela Krapf, wife of Keith Krapf, was successful in her run for a council seat, and she was elected to chair the board in January 2014.That month, the furloughed officers sent council a letter stating they were willing to talk to borough officials regarding their lawsuit and possible reinstatement. Since then, lawyers representing the officers and council have been in discussions about the matter, which is an expected topic of discussion when council meets April 8.Angela Krapf is vacationing and was unavailable for comment. Councilman Thomas Keerans, who chairs the finance committee, said Davis has done a good job for the borough."I'm not an accountant, but the bottom line is that in past years we had to borrow money to pay our bills," Keerans said. "Budgets are an outline of what you think you're going to spend, and it remains to be seen what happens at the end of the year."