Laurel Highlands board takes new look at plan to hire tax attorney”I think we should rescind the motion to hire the attorney and have the business community come up here to talk to the board before we put legal action on them,” he said.
George said it is the job of Central Tax Bureau of Pennsylvania Inc. to collect the taxes. He reasoned after the meeting that the tax has been challenged and upheld in court and those who owe it should be given an opportunity to negotiate the matter before the school district takes on the cost of the outside attorney. “My problem is not with the tax, but with the method of collecting it,” he said.
Board member Angelo Giachetti commented in favor of reconsidering the move. However, director Judy Browell said the tax should simply be paid if it is owed.
The board ultimately took no action at the regular business meeting following the work session.
The school board last month voted in favor of engaging the services of the Law Offices of Ira Weiss as special counsel to pursue what could be as much as about $400,000 in delinquent mercantile taxes, at a cost of $110 an hour. The district would share the cost of the attorney as well as the amount of collected taxes with North Union and South Union townships at a proportionate cost according to the amount of tax owed the entities.
The supervisors for North Union and South Union townships have since given their approval. This was done at the request of the Central Tax Bureau that asked for special counsel to be hired to collect the outstanding mercantile taxes.
The move last month got the required number of yes votes from Browell and Directors Beverly Beal, Mary Conway, Palmer Sabatine and Shirley Kefover.
George was the only director to vote against retaining Weiss, although Giachetti and Tom Vernon passed on voting.
George, who operates Best For Less Gas & Oil Co., said after the meeting that he is not required to pay mercantile tax as a gasoline distributor.
In other business, the school board approved change orders of $70,956.07 on the junior high/middle school construction project.
Mark Altman of Altman & Altman Architects during the work session addressed the change orders that represented a collective amount from five contractors. He said these were items that accumulated, noting the project is winding down and the school board should not expect another request at this amount.
He said the $10 million project includes a contingency fund of about $500,000 for extra costs. Change orders have totaled about $260,000 throughout the project, including the Tuesday amount.
The board voted in favor of using the Wright Express Universal Fleet card for gasoline purchases, although Browell and Giachetti passed on voting.
There was some question during the work session about the option that would not restrict the businesses those purchasing gasoline in the school district’s name could patronize. Browell raised the issue of George’s station.
He countered that he is not looking for the school district’s business and the purpose of the Wright card is flexibility.
The board hired Alana Bomer for the position of teacher/literacy coordinator/trainer, a new position in response to grant funding.
They hired Louella Miner as a 10.5-hour custodian at the junior high school for the 3 to 11 p.m. shift.
They accepted the resignations of Betty Darnell and Deborah Dennis as instructional aides and agreed to post the position of half-time Access billing secretary and half-time junior high secretary.
The board agreed to purchase a diving board for the high school swim team at a cost of no more than $2,300 from the 1990 construction fund with the swim boosters expected to pitch in about $1,270 from their fund-raising efforts.
Among other matters, high school Principal John Diamond displayed the type of report card parents may expect from students in seventh through 12th grades in the junior high and high schools. He said the same report card would be distributed next year to sixth through 12th grades.
He explained the grades are now being printed on paper that is acceptable for checks and features two red mustangs, a watermark and chemical reactive qualities.
He said there should be no opportunity for changing grades or forging report cards. However, Diamond said any concerned parent may contact the schools where the students’ permanent records are filed.
Browell and Superintendent Dr. Ronald Sheba said the six action teams of the school district’s strategic plan steering committee still need the input of parents. They invited anyone who is interested to contact the administration office.
Sheba said anyone with ideas, complaints or concerns is welcomed to join.
Further, Kefover presented Giachetti with a certificate from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) for his years of service to the school board. He was recognized for 15 years as a board member and named to the PSBA Honor Roll of School Board Service.
“In 15 years as a school director, I’ve made a lot of friends and a lot of enemies. Always in my mind was the students first and the taxpayers second and I care about all of them as family,” he said.