By Diane Petryk
LEWISBURG — People who work in East Buffalo Township will find an increased payroll deduction at the start of the new year.
The township’s $10-a-year services tax will be raised to $52, or $1 a week, following a unanimous vote by the supervisors Monday.
By law, 25 percent of the tax revenue must be spent on emergency services. The rest goes for other municipal services. Board Chairman Lawson Fetterman said the tax will bring in about $164,000 per year.
In other business, the supervisors unanimously agreed to make the T-like intersection of Hardscrabble Lane and Jonathan Road a three-way stop.
Stop signs exist on Jonathan Road and for northbound traffic on Hardscrabble Lane with a right-turn exemption posted. Southbound traffic on Hardscrabble is not required to stop.
The supervisors felt the lack of consistency and continuity at the intersection spawns a false sense of security for traffic entering the intersection from Jonathan Road.
The township solicitor will draft an amended stop-sign ordinance to accomplish the change.
Also unanimously, the board agreed to contribute $17,636 toward the Lewisburg Area Recreation Authority’s loan balance of about $200,000 for park and pool renovations. Supervisor Jim Buck, who serves on the LARA board, said the township and Lewisburg borough guaranteed the agency’s loan of about $400,000 about four years ago. He said a similar request for a contribution to offset the obligation will be brought before the Lewisburg council.
Fetterman called for a revamping of the speed-limit ordinance townshipwide, stating it is “sorely out of date.”
He said the document includes redundancy, neglect and contradictions. For instance, he said, Bull Run Crossing is listed as both 35 mph and 25 mph. “Take your choice,” he said.
Thirty roads, he said, are not even mentioned. He suggested reducing the size of the document by dealing with subdivisions instead of each road separately.
In another matter, it appears that a boundary quagmire soon will find its way to resolution after 10 years of wrangling. It involves the line between East Buffalo Township and Union Township, first called into question by a resident in the area of Gilead Mountain Estates.
The supervisors agreed to have the boundary, set by a survey of the Court of Common Pleas, confirmed. This probably will remove a few properties from the tax rolls, the board noted. Owners of properties bisected by the township line will be allowed to choose to which township they wish to pay taxes. The supervisors noted that if they choose Union, they will not have curbside recycling, leaf pickup or municipal police protection.
Leaf collection is under way, Fetterman said, and will continue through the week of Thanksgiving. “We’ve collected 850 cubic yards of leaves, and we’re not even half through,” he said.
Fetterman indicated the leaf vacuum system is powerful machinery, and residents are advised to keep pets and children away from it when leaves are being processed.
Supervisor Henry Baylor, who serves on the regional police planning committee, reminded the group that there will be a public meeting on the proposed merger of the township and Lewisburg police departments at 7 p.m. Nov. 24 in the Donald H. Eichhorn Middle School.
