Nov 18, 2005 By Josh Krysak 4 min read

OHIOPYLE – About a dozen area elected officials gathered Thursday night to discuss creating a new government entity to try and alleviate the tax burden and other budget shortfalls suffered by the mountain municipalities. After some outcry from at least one municipality about budget shortfalls over the last few years, seven mountain municipalities at the behest of Fayette County Commissioner Joseph Hardy have been examining joining forces to help offset financial problems.

Representatives from Markleysburg and Ohiopyle boroughs as well as supervisors from Wharton, Henry Clay, Stewart, Saltlick and Springfield townships were invited to attend the meeting.

Thursday, representatives from Hardy’s office along with Commissioner Vincent Vicites and representatives from the state Department of Transportation and the state Department of Community and Economic Development met with the officials to discuss the possible venture.

“This is an opportunity for you to pool resources,” Vicites said. “You are going to see more and more of this across the state. I think that this is something that will benefit all of your citizens and the community.”

The group is considering Fayette County’s first Council of Government or COG.

According to Michael Foreman, spokesman for DCED, the program allows the municipalities to maintain their individuality but pull their resources, including mo0ney and equipment, and allows them to access state grants specific to COGs.

“You join together because you share common concerns and common interests,” Foreman said. “You do not relinquish any of your authority in your municipality.”

Foreman and PennDOT representative Art Battistone outlined the basic operation of a COG, including the formation of a governing board as well as the political power gained by becoming a larger entity.

“You can purchase things cheaper by the dozen,” Michael Dufalla of Mackin Engineering told the group. “From aggregate to trucks and equipment.”

“The roadways are the most critical issue to everybody whether it be a supervisor or a resident,” Battistone said. “You would see so many benefits from this program.”

In the spring of 2004, Stewart Township officials began a letter campaign to try to convince state and county officials that the budget shortfall in the township was reaching crisis levels, but they had received nothing but verbal support from some lawmakers.

Because nearly half the acreage in Stewart Township is tax-exempt – of 36,134 total acres, more than 17,000 are not taxable, according to the supervisors – the township’s budget tightens annually, and the lack of funds forced the supervisors to take measures to try to recoup the lost revenue.

In February, the supervisor’s cut ties with the state-owned Ohiopyle State Park. The park is the major landholder of tax-exempt property in the township, and in an attempt to play hardball; the supervisors terminated the state park’s access to the township’s stockpile of anti-skid materials.

Stewart Township officials began a letter campaign to try to convince state and county officials that the budget shortfall in the township was reaching crisis levels, but they had received nothing but verbal support from some lawmakers.

Thursday Stephans said that all of the supervisors in Stewart basically work for free and added that while the COG seemed like a viable option for helping alleviate some of the fiscal burden on the township residents, the supervisors don’t even have the funds to pool with their neighbors.

“We just don’t have the money,” Stephans said. “We have no payroll. How can we pitch in?”

And Wharton Township Supervisor jack Lewis said that many of the official actions outlined for a COG are already done on a neighborly basis among the municipalities.

Stewart Township Supervisor Dale Leonard agreed: “We work with Wharton and Henry Clay now. …This has some merit, but we already do most of it among ourselves.

But Battistone noted that the collective bargaining power for things like stone and salt in the winters are things that could prove beneficial if the municipalities opted into the COG and take the pressure of the mountains small tax base.

Last year Stephans said the Stewart’s miniscule 445 residents suffer the burden of a minuscule tax base because of the amount of land occupied by the park, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and the state game lands.

In addition to the state park, the township is home to the conservancy’s Fallingwater, the privately owned Kentuck Knob, state game lands and a privately owned windmill farm.

Because of these attractions, an estimated 2 million tourists pass through the township each year and more than 50 percent of those utilize township roads.

The seven municipalities account for nearly 300 miles of roadway as well as 37 percent of the county’s land, at 295 square miles.

However, the seven townships and boroughs only have a population of about 14,000 of the county’s 148,000 residents.

The officials present did not commit to anything Thursday, but did agree to meet privately to discuss the option further.