No tax increase in Liberty Township / By Martha Knight

LIBERTY VILLA—Liberty Township property owners will get no unpleasant surprises when they get their tax bills, according to actions by township supervisors Gary Turner, Charles Safford and Bruce Klein Tuesday night.

The proposed budget totaling $532,116 was adopted as the final fiscal plan for 2014. As had been planned in the budget drafting meeting last month, the millage rate of 3.06 was continued.

Broken out on the tax bills will be a general tax charge of 2.46 mills and a .6 mill fire protection rate. In 2013 those numbers were 2.66 mills and .4 mill.

When the supervisors acted to raise the fire protection millage .2 mill, from .4 to .6 this year, they offset that increase by a like decrease in the general purpose millage.

The township has embarked, as of last year, on a program of gradual increases in tax support dedicated to fire protection. The funds are sent to Port Allegany Borough, which disburses them to or on behalf of the Port Allegany Fire Department.

The township’s per capita tax remains at $10.

Chairman Turner reported on a conversation he had had with State Senator Joseph Scarnati  and other state officials, and information in a letter from Governor Tom Corbett concerning the impact of the recent transportation bill.

Some state legislators representing this region had voted against the measure because of a steep increase in motor fuel taxes. But some of the increase in revenues will find their way to the municipalities and their infrastructure, officials say, in help with bridge repairs and replacements, dirt and gravel road maintenance, and some Conservation District and Forest Bureau projects.

Also, the Liquid Fuels Tax monies provided for municipalities’ highways and bridges will increase gradually in the next five years, perhaps as much as 60 percent, Turner said the recent discussions indicated.

Turner said no official reasons have been supplied for the denial of the township’s grant application for PennWorks funding for a project extending water and sewer lines south from Port Allegany into the Liberty Villa area.

Some residents had opposed the project, fearing it would raise sewer costs, Turner said, and might be relieved that the project is not going forward at this time. But it is not a win for the township, Turner said, because it is only a matter of time before the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection begins to force compliance with sanitary requirements.

The board named Haines and Co. auditors for 2014, in a continuation of their service over the past several years.

Turner and Klein thanked Safford, attending his last meeting before his term expires, for his service to the township, and asked him to remain available to the board of supervisors in an advisory capacity. He agreed to help out when called upon. Safford has been active in road and other projects as an unpaid laborer. Also, all three supervisors have forgone their meeting attendance fees so as to cover the costs of having recycling dumpsters available to township residents, a practice they said they hope can continue.

Randy Hobbs of Portage Industrial Properties said that he has a new tenant that is in the transloading business. The business will move cargo from the rail cars on the siding at the site, for highway transportation.

Newly elected constable Caleb Benson attended the meeting to introduce himself and his services to those present. He said he is taking the required training to become certified. He will be authorized to perform the duties of constable in the township and elsewhere in the Commonwealth, with serving court papers expected to be a major part of his work.