Jan 24, 2017 1 min read

MONESSEN – Monessen is beginning 2017 in far better financial shape than it did a year ago, when it was met with a slew of unpaid bills and large deficit that resulted in layoffs and a spending freeze.

The city ended 2016 with a $48,000 budget surplus and it will not need to dip into a $500,000 tax-anticipation loan to pay for unpaid expenses, Monessen Mayor Lou Mavrakis said Tuesday.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel,” Mavrakis said.

He said he’s hopeful public funding will come through to demolish the former Health Mart building and an abandoned minimall next door on Donner Avenue. The state Department of Transportation also will pave Donner and Schoonmaker avenues, which serve as Route 906 in the Mon Valley city.

Mavrakis said he hopes those two projects will help to attract developers to Monessen.

“That’s going to be a start,” he said.

Mavrakis said he credited the city’s finance director, Councilman Ron Chiaravalle, with getting Monessen through the year by making wholesale spending cuts and presenting a realistic 2017 budget.

“He cut everything he could possibly cut,” Mavrakis said.

No layoffs are planned this year.