Dec 28, 2016 By Pat Cloonan pcloonan@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

MONONGAHELA — City Council felt compelled to give the highest bidder the contract for a 2017 tax and revenue anticipation loan at a special meeting Wednesday morning.

At the recommendation of Solicitor Keith Bassi, council by a 3-0 vote approved the bid from cfsbank, the former Charleroi Federal Savings, for a $500,000 loan at a fixed rate of 2.29 percent.

Bassi told council in an email that the lowest bidder, First National Bank with area branches in Pleasant Hills and Rostraver Township, changed its mind. It offered a 1.89 percent fixed interest rate.

“I recommended the lowest bid but (First National Bank) withdrew it,” Bassi said in the email read by City Clerk Carole Foglia. Apparently, Bassi said, the bank determined that the interest rate was too low.

Next was First Commonwealth Bank with area branches in Elizabeth Township and Hunker and a 2.1 percent interest rate, but it came with conditions — including a requirement that the city use the bank as a depository and have half the amount of the loan in an account there.

“We would have to deposit $250,000,” Councilman Kenneth Kulak said. “That would defeat the purpose,” of having the funds available to make up for revenue that won’t be on hand until tax bills go out on April 1.

When those bills go out, they will reflect a 2017 budget of just under $2.9 million passed Dec. 14, with no increase in taxes. It will be a lower rate, from 23 mills to 6.5 mills, but that reflects a change in Washington County’s assessment from 25 percent of assessed values in 1981 to 100 percent of assessed values determined under a more-recent court-ordered property survey.

Additionally, while neither First National nor cfsbank were charging fees, First Commonwealth Bank sought a $500 commitment fee and a $97 filing fee.

Mayor Bob Kepics then moved to accept the “Charleroi Federal Savings” bid, using the bank’s name as it was known for much of its 80-year history, Councilman Alan Veliky seconded the motion and Kulak also voted to approve that loan.

Council members said they believed their absent colleagues, Councilmen G. Thomas Caudill and Daryl Miller, also would have approved the action. Neither were able to attend the special meeting because of other commitments.

The meeting then adjourned. Afterward, the mayor said city police would begin patrols of Union Township at the stroke of midnight Saturday night.

That’s the start of a one-year deal to patrol that township, with options for second and third years. That township will pay the city $346,256 in 2017 with options to continue service at 2 percent increases in 2018 and 2019.

Union Township is switching to Mon City services from Southwest Regional Police. Monongahela police also patrol New Eagle and Finleyville under longer-term contracts dating back more than a decade.