On his second day on the job Tuesday, Greenville Borough Manager Kenneth S. Weaver admitted he does not have answers to the borough's financial crisis.

"Hell. I don't think I knew all the questions," the 53-year-old Weaver said with a slight Southern drawl.

The only thing Weaver knows is: He, council members and others have to tackle the 2002 budget deficit before the borough can move forward.

Greenville council on Dec. 31 adopted the unbalanced $3 million-plus budget, knowing a new council would reopen it and work to balance it by Feb. 15. Council was limited to a 5-percent tax hike this year because county commissioners changed the assessment ratio from one-third to 100 percent. The tax hike of 1.25 mills is 4.6 percent. The original, balanced budget proposal for 2002 called for a 14.6 percent tax increase.

Weaver admitted he doesn't know what got the borough into its financial mess. Auditors will try to find out the amount of the deficit and what, if any, shortfalls from the previous year need to be repaid, Weaver said.

"Whatever the cure ... it is going to take a team working among staff, council, other elected officials, the business community and citizens, and we need to go forward with whatever it takes. It doesn't do us any good to lament what should have been done," Weaver said.

Council hired Weaver on Dec. 31 at a $45,000 salary to fill the post left vacant for two months after former Borough Manager Peter D. Nicoloff Jr. resigned on Oct. 31. Since then, council members and borough staff worked on the budget draft Nicoloff prepared

Weaver came to Greenville from Lewisburg, W.Va., where he was city administrator for a year. He served in similar posts in Benton Harbor, Mich., and Moundsville, W.Va. He said he resigned the job in Lewisburg after discovering the town's mayor also was its chief executive officer.

"She was smart and she ran the show. There was no reason for me to be there when she has the job. So we mutually agreed that I should resign," Weaver said.

With his resumes out, Weaver said he became impressed with Councilmen Bryan Langietti and Richard S. Houpt, who took him around town, and with Councilman Michael A. D'Alfonso, who died in November. "It was a good mix. I had the feeling that the council and the manager could get things done. They would let me manage and be there to support me," he said.

Weaver said he's also talked to some people in Greenville who "are very friendly."

"Everyone I visited want to see the borough go forward," he said.

That will take vision and planning, Weaver said.

"After this financial condition changes, we need a long-range plan. Get a group of citizens together and develop a plan of where the city should go," he said.

The community needs to be involved in long-range plans defining "where the borough should be" he said.

The borough also needs a long-term capital plan, defining when equipment needs to be replaced, he said.

The comprehensive plan should detail the projects needed to reach the community's vision, he said. "Everything that is done is a piece of the puzzle," he said.

Weaver would not comment on the state- and locally funded $5.5 million recreation and downtown upgrade projects.

"I don't know what went into making those decisions," he said. As borough manager, they will be his to see through completion, he said.

"Things happen when everyone is a team. Communities that grow and progress have everyone involved, with citizens offering suggestions and encouraging them. It won't happen if it's done in a mish-mash, haphazard way," he said.

Describing himself as blunt and open, Weaver said he learned the most about people when working in a North Carolina prison, run by Community Corrections Corp. of America. He was classification coordinator and listened to inmates' grievances.

"These people were there probably for the rest of their lives. When they handed me a three-page report, the grievance may be only two sentences, and I had to find it," Weaver said.