SAXONBURG — Like trimming an unwieldy bush, borough officials on Wednesday pruned the 2011 budget to avoid a property tax hike.

Following some last minute cuts and shifting of funds at the meeting, the tentative budget was left at $570,952.

Borough manager Mary Papik said money will be left from this year's budget to cover some of next year's expenses.

The borough had budgeted a police chief for 2010, but did not hire Joe Beachem until June. Papik said that timeline freed up about $15,000 that would have gone to the chief's salary if he had been hired in January.

Among the projects earmarked for 2011 is the construction of a storage area near the borough building on Main Street.

Concrete walls and a roof will be built where salt is stored now at an estimated cost of about $11,000. The Saxonburg Area Authority, which shares equipment and staff with the borough, will pay nearly half of that amount.

A $10,000 insert for a pickup truck also is included in the budget. The borough will pay $6,000 of that cost. The authority will pay the other $4,000.

During a lengthy executive session, council discussed the possibility of cutting staff to save money, but eventually dropped the idea.

"We determined we could balance the budget without staff cuts," Papik said in an interview.

The borough's full-time nonunion employees will receive pay raises in 2011. Papik said the varied pay increases for the nine workers will average out to 2 percent. The five union workers in the field crew will receive a roughly 3 percent pay hike mandated by their contract.