Lansford Borough is working to overcome a roughly $400,000 shortfall in its preliminary budget numbers for 2027.

Borough council on Tuesday reviewed a budget spreadsheet with Lisa Hagberg of Kafferlin Strategies, a consultant working on recommendations for a five-year strategic plan under the state’s Strategic Training and Management Program.

Kafferlin provided the borough with a new framework to review the budget, and numbers were still being worked through and updated as council sat down Tuesday morning.

The spreadsheet showed the adopted 2026 budget numbers, budget to date, which is still in progress; a historical baseline and proposed 2027 numbers based on a 3.3% increase.

Hagberg explained the borough had more expenses than revenues looking at preliminary numbers.

“Your expenses are higher than your revenues by $319,580 across all the funds,” she told them. “The general fund alone is $117,000 in the red.”

The Fire Tax Fund was $960 in the red, which Hagberg said was an easy fix, and then others in the red were LST Fund, $12,760; state Liquid Fuels, $9,490; sanitation fund, $85,000; sewer transmission, $82,000, and street lighting, $14,000.

Hagberg asked council to review the numbers against their priorities for the coming year, adding in projects and anticipated expenses or major purchases for 2027.

Council spent a little more than an hour looking at the numbers in two of the eight funds the borough has, questioning what some of the line items were for and adjusting the spending.

Council did discuss retiring two of its street department trucks in favor of a new truck with a dump body and plow, or possibly hanging on to the older trucks for another year.

Hagberg pointed out that the borough has spent thousands on equipment repairs over the last three years, according to the budget.

A new truck with a plow would cost about $82,000, Hagberg said, and Councilman Joe Butrie believes they could sell their 2001 and 2008 trucks for a combined $20,000.

Council members discussed financing the truck, rather than an outright purchase. Hagberg said the monthly payments would be about $2,900 for three years at 4.5% interest.

Council also discussed seeking financing or grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, or a similar program.

Hagberg told council members to do research on the truck purchase and bring back the purchase price and loan numbers for the next budget meeting.

Hagberg said she planned to continue to work through the numbers with borough secretary Ashley McLaughlin on updating the spreadsheet, which would be sent to all council members by email.

She also recommended that council sit down and review all the numbers as they prepare for the next budget meeting in November.

“So, if you’re ready to part ways on this, I want you to take these items that Ashley’s given you and review them so at the next meeting, you can come and bring your input on anything that you see that’s different,” Hagberg said.

Ben Kafferlin, who sat in on the meeting, said that it’s good that the borough doesn’t have outstanding loans or debt, but it does have debt, as many issues have been delayed or “kicked the can down the road in a lot of ways.”

“There’s stuff that needs to be dealt with, like what you guys are talking about with the trucks,” Kafferlin said. “But there’s more than just those I haven’t heard discussions about today, such as maybe demolishing your old public works building and renovation aspects of this building, making it more ADA compliant.”

Hagberg also pointed out that they would also need to work toward some remedy for the former Silberline complex on Dock Street.

Councilman Bruce Markovich asked how some of the adjustments council discussed, and Hagberg updated on the spreadsheet, changed the deficit numbers.

“Because we decreased some of those expenses and made some changes, you’re still about the same,” she said. “You’re at about $400,000.”

Markovich asked, “In the hole?”

Hagberg replied yes.

She said they still had to review some transfers and reimbursements from prior years, and see if they’ll be realized going forward, as they continue to adjust the budget for 2027.

During a presentation early this year, Kafferlin pointed out that the borough had grown its cash reserves from $2 million to $4 million, and need to plan to put those funds toward capital project, such as the Dock Street project or borough building.

The next budget meeting is Nov. 10, and a special meeting was scheduled for Nov. 24 to adopt a tentative budget for 2027. The meetings are at 11 a.m.