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Officials consider financial options
HILLSVILLE, Pa. — Mahoning Township supervisors will have to raise taxes in 2010 if they cannot make enough cuts to erase the $93,850 deficit in the preliminary budget they introduced at a recent meeting.
Before final budget adoption at next month’s meeting, supervisors will meet to see where they can cut, Supervisor Gary Pezzuolo said after the meeting Tuesday, adding that the budget is lean already. Wages are already frozen, and he said the only significant savings would be if the township stops salting straightaways and salts only bends and hills in icy weather.
He added that increases in the cost of insurance as well as increased costs that will result from the township’s starting its own police department are responsible for most of the general-fund increase.
The township is in the process of splitting from the joint police department it has operated since 2004 with Pulaski Township. That split is expected to be finalized at the December meeting, and the new Mahoning Township Department will be launched Jan. 1. Supervisors ordered the separation because of increased crime in Mahoning Township and residents’ complaints about long response times. However, one resident at the meeting Tuesday questioned how residents on fixed incomes will absorb the probable tax increases this will entail.
Pezzuolo said the township has been skimping on its needs for years, but at some point taxes will have to be raised. He said the township’s newest firetruck is a 1993 model, and road department trucks date back to 1989. He said replacement of needed items such as windows and heating systems at the township buildings is being delayed because there is no money.
He said he believes it is better to raise taxes in small amounts to keep up with needs, rather than neglect the township’s needs for years and then be forced to impose a large increase.
The proposed general-fund figure for 2010 is $854,890. Officials at Tuesday’s meeting said they didn’t know this year’s figure.
Also at their meeting Tuesday, supervisors:
UPassed an ordinance prohibiting upholstered furniture from being placed on unenclosed front porches and one prohibiting the use of “jake brakes” in township limits.
UAgreed to buy anti-skid materials for winter road treatment for $6 per ton from SRI Gennaro Pavers in Poland Township, Ohio. A Lawrence County Regional Council of Governments bid of $5.75 from a Slippery Rock business would be more expensive because township trucks would have to travel to Slippery Rock for pickup instead of four miles to Gennaro’s, he explained.
URenewed a contract for $8,000 with Phillip Weiner for auditing township and wage tax books in 2010 even though Mark Turnley of Ambridge had bid $7,800. Township Treasurer Gil Lucarelli said that the Weiner firm has a good work record with the township and has never billed for additional time.
UAccepted notice from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation that Airport Hill Run Bridge over Sankey Run will be closed because of its deteriorated condition.