Commissioners pass budget on split vote; no tax hike / By Martha Knight

SMETHPORT—The McKean County Commissioners voted 2-1 last Tuesday morning to finalize the proposed budget for 2015, and to levy taxes based on its numbers.

In so doing the commissioners increased spending slightly compared with the 2014 budget, but held the line on taxes.

Voting Nay was commissioner chairman Joe DeMott. Earlier this month he had announced his intention to vote against the budget, stating that his “philosophical” opposition was based on needs he felt should be better funded. He believes a tax increase is needed.

Voting Yea were commissioners Cliff Lane and Al Pingie.

Earlier Lane had said he believes the revenue side of the budget may turn out better than the budget shows.

The new budget caps spending st $16,080,822, compared with $15,967,728 budgeted for 2014. Real estate taxes will remain at 9.25 mills, or $9.25 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The per capita tax also is unchanged, at $5.

A mention of the veterans’ exemption program, which DeMott earlier called a “successful” one even though it is among factors decreasing the real estate tax base, had received press attention. This had brought a flurry of inquiries to the county Department of Veterans Affairs, according to its director, Matt Windsor.

Windsor attended the commissioners’ meeting to present a digest of the program’s guidelines. The basic income limit for a veteran seeking a property tax exemption is $85,168 per year. There are other criteria.

The program has expanded considerably as to the number of veterans participating, Windsor said, compared to when he began his duties. At that time there were ten or fewer participants; now there are more than 60.

Windsor said he would visit veterans who are in area nursing homes, in the next day or two.

During the commissioners’ comments portion of the meeting, DeMott provided information that had been a topic of discussion at the meeting two weeks ago: how much Act 13 (Marcellus Shale impact fee) money would be available for projects of municipalities, based on their applications.

The amount that will be available for eligible projects, of the roughly $1 million that had been accumulated over the past three years, is $189,000, DeMott said. The county has used some for a bridge in Lewis Run borough, and some for replacement of the emergency communications tower on Prospect Hill, and has earmarked additional funds for the completion of the tower project.

Commissioners authorized opening a special account at Northwest Savings Bank for the Act 89 Liquid Fuels funds that are earmarked for county-owned bridges. The current amount to be held in the new account is $10,471, the county’s 2014 allocation.

In a letter from Barry J. Schoch, Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, the county’s allocation is based on the ratio of the square footage of bridge deck owned by the county, to the total square footage of county-owned bridges throughout the state.

Other funds derived from liquid fuel taxes are allocated for distribution by the county to municipalities for various bridge and highway projects.

Commissioners set meeting dates for 2015, generally following a 10 a.m., second-and-fourth Tuesdays pattern, but with seven deviations due to conflicts with meetings of associations relating to county government. The complete schedule will be advertised in the newspaper of record.

Retirement board and salary board meetings will follow a similar schedule, also to be advertised. Those occur at 1 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. on first Tuesdays, in the commissioners’ meeting room.

Working hours of the court house will continue to be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Rules of order and regulations of conduct also were adopted, in similar form to other years.

The commissioners approved an extension of the county’s current contract with the AFL-CIO Local 3578 members who staff the jail. There are about 16 employees in that labor unit.

The county has been in negotiations with the local for several months, as their current agreement, a three-year pact, nears its December 31 expiration.

The commissioners said there may be an agreement before December 31, in which case the extension would not be needed. Pingie noted there is a no-strike clause in the current agreement. It would continue under the extension.

In other action, the commissioners entered into an agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, accepting an addendum to The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) which serves the six food pantry programs in the county.

Three properties were sold from the county repository, two to high bidders and one to the sole bidder. Dennis Campbell paid $1,000 for a .42 acre lot with a mobile home and outbuilding, at 334 Barnum Road, Eldred.

Randy Martin paid $5,010.09 for 1.5 acres and a house and outbuilding at 3308 West Valley Road, Norwich Township.

Troy Glasgow gave $501 for a two-acre vacant lot in Ventures Drive, Keating Township.

A tax exemption was granted to Oakhill Cemetery Association for .84 acre of land on Lincoln Ave, Bradford, donated to them for expansion of the cemetery.

Four service provider agreements were approved as requested by the Human Services Department.

Invoices approved were for $11,275 to Bradford Township, for a completed project; and $3,154 to Hamlin Township, also for a completed project. Both are for 2014 projects and will be paid from the Liquid Fuel Fund.