Editor’s note: Some of the council’s logic here is frightening. The reason Pottstown is going broke can hardly be attributed to the costs associated with a couple of parades and fireworks. It’s the protuberant budget! $38,000,000.00 for a town with 22,377 people is absurd. Again, these few activities combined account for less than 1% of the budget. The tax base can’t support a budget this size and cuts need to be made, but council is unwilling to do so (as they have demonstrated year after year). Then, out of the blue they want to “tighten the purse strings” over a couple thousand lousy dollars that don’t make a hill of beans difference in the grand scheme of things. I would be far more impressed with more substantive belt-tightening that would actually make a dent.
POTTSTOWN, PA — Borough council Tuesday night voted unanimously to waive half the fees for the annual Halloween parade, allowing the organizers to proclaim that they would raise the remaining $2,660 somehow and that the parade will go on as planned.
It is scheduled for Wed. Oct. 24, 7 p.m. on High Street.
“It’s such a good thing for Pottstown,” said Aram Ecker, speaking for the AMBUCS. “There are a lot of organizations involved and there is a lot of time put in for the costumes and floats. It’s been such a legacy and tradition in Pottstown, I don’t want to see it die.”
“The middle school marching band is so excited, they bought sweatshirts for the event. Their debut this year will be the Halloween parade and they’ve been practicing since the first day of school,” Ecker said.
Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20121009/NEWS01/121009362/pottstown-halloween-parade-is-back-on-after-council-waives-half-the-fee