Oct 7, 2002 By Melissa Glisan 4 min read

PERRY TWP. – With a minimum of adjusting, the township supervisors passed a tentative $545,500 budget for 2003 at last week’s meeting. One of the largest areas of the budget in past years has been allocations for paying off past debts that came to light in 2000 as a result of an investigative audit conducted by Cypher & Cypher, certified public accountants, that was completed in 2001.

In 2001, the board of supervisors set aside a little more than $190,000 for repayment purposes. This year, the board repaid a little more than $100,000 from township accounts, with an additional $50,000 repaid with funds received from the revocation of former township Supervisor Rick Uhrin’s secretary-treasurer’s bond.

The announcement that an agreement with National City Bank for a $108,000 payment to erase the $217,000 debt means that the time of setting aside large percentages of the budget for debt repayment may be ending soon, said the supervisors. Once the bank payment is made in May 2003, the township will face only repaying the Internal Revenue Service about $80,000 and the pension fund $11,000.

Since the board applied for a repayment plan with the IRS, future bites out of the annual budget should grow smaller until, possibly in 2004, the township can afford to resume an active road-paving plan, said Supervisor A.J. Boni.

Some budget items discussed at the meeting included maintenance on the township building and annual cleanup expenses. The board considered conducting the cleanup project in-house, using township workers and equipment to collect and haul items, but decided it would cost less if the work was contracted.

They also agreed to hold the building maintenance budget at $10,000, just enough, Supervisor Janet Galla said, to replace the problematic roof. Considering the age and state of disrepair of the building, Galla said she didn’t feel comfortable spending any more now.

On the subject of finances, the supervisors voted to have the 2002 audit conducted by an independent certified public accountant, Jeff McCue, at a cost not to exceed $3,000.

McCue audited the township books in a prior year.

Moving to other business, the board voted to add the community of Banning to a sewage plan encompassing Whitsett and Wickhaven.

Township engineer Bruce Chambers said the next step is to hold meetings with potential funding sources.

Chambers said the township has no firm estimate on construction costs because of the recent changes to include Banning; however, the design of the system should be completed in the next six months.

If all goes well with funding, the project could be bid and under construction as soon as 2004, he said. The three-community project will serve 350 residents and will involve construction of a new treatment plant.

In other business, residents told the supervisors that the incidence of all-night cruising and racing in Star Junction has decreased but hasn’t disappeared.

After last month’s meeting, the supervisors met with state police to resolve the problem.

Residents had submitted a petition of more than 100 names of those fed up with all-night drag racing and parties at the intersection of Route 51 and Tony Row Road. Since most of the “kids” involved are over 18, the supervisors said a curfew ordinance wouldn’t help.

Because the problem also involved private property, the supervisors and the state police visited the property owners where the disturbances occurred.

While some new signs have been put up allowing the state police to ticket offenders for trespassing and loitering, residents noted that two businesses haven’t stepped up to address the problem, so the problem, while lessened, continues.

The supervisors asked residents to give the businesses in question a little more time to follow the suggestions of the state police.

The supervisors also conducted the following business:

– Announced that cleanup of Washington Run will begin today. The township worked with Perryopolis Borough to arrange for correctional workers to spend two weeks clearing the stream of debris and trash to help reduce flooding problems.

– Scheduled Halloween trick-or-treating for Sunday, Oct. 27, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The time was selected to follow after the annual parade in Perryopolis at 5 p.m. Residents welcoming children are asked to turn on porch lights, and parents are reminded that an adult should accompany children.

– Agreed to contact Winbeam Cable Service to ask why the area has been skipped for inclusion in the new Internet cable access program being introduced in the surrounding communities.