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Merger will be on ballot
The township and borough will vote on a merger Nov. 4.
WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. — Saying that the future of their community depends on working together, officials and residents of Shenango Township and West Middlesex talked about whether to vote for a merger.
The merger question will be on the ballot in both municipalities Nov. 4.
Nearly 100 people attended the second of three meetings on the proposal Tuesday at West Middlesex High School.
Residents listened as township supervisors, borough council members and the borough mayor spoke for or against the idea.
Most of the officials are for the merger. The ballot question passed unanimously in the borough and 3-2 in the township, with the two supervisors who are against it speaking out Tuesday.
“I’m not for the merger,” said Supervisor Walter Gelesky. “I use the word ‘bailout.’ We’ll bail out the borough.”
The new municipality, which would be a second-class township called West Middlesex, would see its tax millage remain at 8 mills, which is Shenango Township’s millage now. Borough residents will see their taxes drop from around 23 mills.
“Fifteen mills off taxes is great for the borough, not for us,” said Gelesky.
He also said that the proposal doesn’t bring the fire departments and the sewer authorities into the merger. “Where’s the savings?”
“I’m not for it at all,” said Supervisor Bill Williams, who is also chief of the township’s fire department. “They haven’t showed me anything the township will gain. You sit here and listen to [Alan] Kugler — he’s doing a good job for West Middlesex.”
Kugler, a consultant with an Erie company called PA Futures, prepared the merger proposal and the joint agreement that establishes the legal procedure for the consolidation.
Others said the merger would save money on services and make Harrisburg sit up and take notice when it’s time to give out grants.
A united community could attract more businesses, they said, which is important because the community is stagnating with an aging population and not enough commercial growth to attract younger people and boost the tax base.
Supervisors chairman Bob Palko said that with rising costs, officials have to do what they can to offset them. “I am for this merger.”
Borough council member Raymond Lucich Jr., who’s also chief of the borough fire department, said growth might not stop at the new township.
“Would Wheatland come in?” he wondered. “Then what would the tax base be? It’s all industrial.”
Mayor David George said that he believes the borough and township are one community divided by two governments.
Borough resident Holly Garman concurred. “I lived in Shenango Township growing up,” she said. “Now I live on Main Street. I never thought of us as separate. We are one.”
Township resident Ray Babos said he didn’t see a big deal about taxes going down for the borough, as long as they didn’t go up for township residents.
Roberta Creed, a borough resident, talked about a recent visit to a small Illinois town. “Everything was boarded up,” she said. “There was nothing left,” she said, but an aging, dwindling population.
“We need our children here,” said township resident Kevin Kirk. “If there’s no growth, they won’t want to be here.”