$41,000 in EIT went to boro, refunded to Liberty / By Martha Knight

LIBERTY VILLA — Liberty Township Supervisors praised township secretary Cindy Speeth last Tuesday night for her discovery of a misrouting of Earned Income Tax (EIT) revenues and her successful efforts in reclaiming the funds for the township.

The returned EIT funds in the amount of $41,399.77 showed up in Speeth’s general fund revenues report for the past month. Supervisor chairman Gary Turner explained that the funds had been sent to Port Allegany Borough in error for several years. Meanwhile, Liberty Township had received some, but not all, of the EIT funds it was entitled to based on earnings of residents.

“Our secretary is smart and on the ball,” Turner said, and added that henceforth Speeth should receive Thanksgiving as a paid holiday. Supervisors Chuck Safford and Bruce Klein agreed. The holiday mention was not a formal action.

Speeth explained that the EIT taxes that had been credited mistakenly to Port Allegany Borough were from township taxpayers with Port Allegany addresses, who had not clarified that they live in the township. She had followed up with the borough and the EIT agency in determining which payments had been wrongly credited. The borough had given back its erroneous EIT receipts to the EIT, and those moneys were sent on to the township.

Supervisors readily agreed with a request from the McKean County 911 Center, Tuesday night, and adopted a resolution renaming two parts of a road.

Henceforth the public portion of Fox Den Road will be known as South Fox Den Road and a private road branching off from it will be identified as North Fox Den Road.

The change will allow emergency vehicles to be routed more appropriately to addresses, supervisors said.

Turner said that the supervisors will ask a private property owner in that area to help with the change by providing signs.

Supervisors agreed with the gist of a letter from the McKean County Planning Commission concerning a conveyance of land by Donald and Shirley Freer to a neighboring owner. No building is involved, and sanitation officer Roger Bickelman had signed a waiver to that effect.

Turner reported on the construction of Fogel Bridge over Comes Creek. Safford said the bridge is not yet open to traffic, pending installation of safety barriers. The design for the bridge was supplied by engineers. The span was damaged in connection with a fatal motor vehicle accident last winter.

Lillibridge Road resident Frank Kujawski asked whether the supervisors are able to get the correct spelling of Lillibridge more universally used, inasmuch as it is a family’s surname. He had noticed that it appears as two words on some mail.

The supervisors said road and street names used in addressing are the province of E911, and how they are listed locally for mailing purposes would have to be taken up with the post office.

Local developer Randy Hobbs said the latest word on the township’s application for PennWorks grant funding is that grants have not been awarded but the matter was expected to be handled at the agency’s November meeting.

The PennWorks funds would be used to pay for 75 percent of the cost of extending water and sewer lines two miles southward from the Port Allegany line, into the township area along Route 155 South. Without the grant, the township will not commit to the project at this time.

Turner announced that the supervisors would meet at 2 p.m. the next day in a budget work session. The proposed budget will be on display in the township office until budget adoption next month.