Council passes budget with new light, hydrant tax
BROWNSVILLE – The Brownsville Borough Council passed a $710,119 budget Tuesday and Councilman Edward “Tuck” Rohrer, chairman of the finance committee, said they found a way to pass the budget without raising property taxes. “To keep from raising taxes this year, we’ve decided to institute a street lighting and hydrants tax ordinance,” said Rohrer. “The tax will be $2.96 per month per property for street lights and 96 cents per month per property for hydrants.”
Rohrer said this was the best way the council could keep the taxes at the same rate.
Council President Jack Lawver said that implementing the tax on lights and hydrants would also allow the council to use state funding for repairing roads.
“We’ve been using the majority of the money from the state to light the streets instead of repairing the streets,” said Lawver. “They are in deplorable condition now and this tax will help us start some street programs and alleviate some of the burden of using liquid fuel money for lighting.”
After an executive session held for the council to discuss personnel issues, the board decided to hire a full-time police officer chosen from a list of candidates from the Civil Service Commission. At the recommendation of Councilman Robert Pritts, chairman of the public safety committee, the council hired John Kauer, contingent upon Kauer’s passing an agility test.
Pritts also reported that the public works committee would be meeting after the first of the year to renegotiate the street department’s contract.
In another matter, the council also passed a resolution that would allow them to accept a junior council member.
Mayor Norma Ryan said that the Brownsville Area High School principal had submitted five names of students who were interested in filling the position.
Lawver explained that the junior councilman would not be able to vote or attend executive sessions, but would be invited to all council meetings and committee meetings.
“They would have a seat here so that they can listen to what goes on,” said Lawver, explaining that the resolution was meant to encourage youth involvement in the borough.
Ryan said the principal had asked her if two students might be allowed to serve as junior council members, and the council agreed to that, saying that it might help the students feel more comfortable if they could work together.