Kaufman re-elected Uniontown board president
The Uniontown Area School Board, during its annual reorganization meeting Tuesday, voted unanimously to re-elect Harry “Dutch” Kaufman as board president for the coming year and Ken Meadows as vice president. Kaufman has served as board president for nine years, including the past seven. The re-election also marks the seventh time Meadows has served as vice president and his 12th year as a director overall.
Kaufman swore in directors Meadows, Susan Clay, Nancy Herring, Tammy Boyle and Ron Machesky after they were re-elected in November. All five ran unopposed.
Herring has served 26 years, Clay has served 16, Machesky has served 12 and Boyle has served four.
In addition to the new officers, the board appointed member Charles Castor as the assistant secretary and reappointed the committees chosen by Kaufman during the 2002 school year for 2003.
The board also voted to retain the services of Maiello Brungo and Maiello as district solicitor, with Michael Brungo acting as lead counsel to the board.
During the regular session after the reorganization, the board heard from Mike McCarty, owner of Mountain Streams and Trails, about the amusement tax litigation between the board and the rafting company.
McCarty, who has operated the business in the Ohiopyle area along the Youghiogheny River for 33 years, said his family has decided to sell the business and has found a buyer, but the litigation involving the tax is delaying the sale. McCarty said the litigation is being completed now and that he wants to settle with the board.
“My buyers and my family and I are requesting a settlement this year,” McCarty said. “This has been a prolonged problem.”
Brungo said that because the tax is in litigation, the matter is not for public discussion, but he did note that once an internal auditor for the Central Tax Bureau audits the company, a resolution is possible.
“We will follow up and see if we can expedite this thing,” Brungo said.
The board then entered into an executive session to discuss the matter.
McCarty said the amusement tax has accrued over time and that the litigation involves tax-exempt groups like churches. He said the district began assessing the amusement tax in 1994 at a 9.9 percent rate, .1 percent less than the maximum provided by law.
McCarty said his company grosses about $1 million annually on three rivers in the tri-state area.
After executive session, the board maintained Brungo’s position and said they will work with McCarty after the audit is complete.
Last year, William Rittenhouse, school board budget and finance director, warned the board about the pending litigation and said Tuesday that the money received by the district from the tax was listed in the budget, but not without reservations. He said the district receives about $150,000 a year from the amusement tax.
The board also conducted the following business:
– Heard from Superintendent Charles Machesky about the new scoreboard and timing system installed in the high school’s pool area. He said the new equipment was in operation Tuesday for the first swim meet of the year.
– Announced that an instruction sheet will be sent to district parents concerning the recent delays because of traffic accidents on Route 40 in the mountain area. Machesky said the flyers will give specific instruction for parents regarding the district’s procedures during such delays as well as ways to pick up students from the schools in question.