Butler city council votes to approve creation of Legacy Trust
Butler City Council took action to help ensure long-term stewardship of funds from the sale of the Butler Area Sewer Authority at its meeting on Thursday night, March 27.
Council voted to approve the creation of the Butler Legacy Trust, a long-term fund consisting of $50 million the city received from the sale.
Butler city and Butler Township each received $90 million from the sale of the municipal authority to Pennsylvania American Water, which was finalized in October. Of the remaining $40 million, the city plans to put $15 million toward capital improvement projects and $25 million into an investment fund.
“This puts us in the position to have the monies in place where we want them to be,” said Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy. “Some of it’s still in the general fund and we'll be using it to work on the projects that are coming up.”
The Legacy Trust will be managed by PNC Financial, while the investment account will be managed by NexTier Bank and Stratos Wealth Partners.
Under the terms of the long range plan, the city will not draw down on the trust fund for its first three years, and after that, will only draw down upon it according to certain guidelines.
“That particular fund will be harder to access,” said Dandoy. “The $50 million will sit there, we hope, for a very long time to generate more income for the city for generations to come.”
According to Butler’s long range plan, money from the capital improvement plan fund will be allocated toward improvements for Father Marinaro Park, four different city parking lots and the Monroe Street Bridge. The latter is due to be either replaced or restored by PennDOT, but not until 2029 and will need smaller repairs until then.
