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Mt. Lebanon commissioners adopt 2016 budget

By Harry Funk 3 min read
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Commissioners Steve Silverman, left, and John Bendel congratulate Coleen Vuono.

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John Bendel, commission president, congratulates Nancy Lu.

Mt. Lebanon commissioners voted 4-1 to adopt the municipal budget for 2016 while unanimously approving a property tax rate that represents no increase.

Kelly Fraasch voted against the budget during the commission’s Dec. 8 meeting, citing her opposition to a $30,970 carryover from the current year for deer management.

“It is not a guarantee of anything but the killing of deer,” she said about municipal efforts to reduce the population, which include an archery hunt that resumes Dec. 26 and possibly a sharpshooting effort during February and March. “I don’t know if we should be using taxpayer money for a private-property issue.”

Fraasch, who will become commission president in January, consistently has opposed lethal means of deer management since being voted into office in 2012. She was re-elected in November as Ward 5 commissioner.

She joined the other commissioners in voting to maintain the tax rate at 4.51 mills for the third year in a row. The owner of property with an assessed value of $200,000 would pay $902.

Commissioners gave commendation to finance director Andrew McCreery, interim manager Keith McGill and other municipal staff members for assisting in preparing the $33.2 million budget, which was presented for recommendation by former manager Stephen Feller prior to his mid-October resignation.

“I think the process that has developed over the years has been extremely helpful,” Commissioner Dave Brumfield said.

In other business at the Dec. 8 meeting:

• Commissioners approved a the ninth extension to the 2007 purchase agreement with Michael G. Zamagias Interests Ltd. for property at Washington and Bower Hill roads.

Zamagias has proposed building the 46-unit Condominiums of Mt. Lebanon at the site. The land development application has received preliminary approval from the municipal planning board, which is expected to consider a recommendation for final approval in January.

The vote for the extension was 3-2, with Fraasch and Steve Silverman voting against, as they did in 2014. Both cited concerns about the lack of progress to this point on developing the property, which effectively has been vacant since the late 1990s.

• Outgoing Commissioner Coleen Vuono and junior commissioner Nancy Lu were presented with gifts on behalf of the commission.

Vuono was appointed in April to fill the Ward 3 seat of Kristen Linfante, who resigned for health reasons. Previously, Vuono had served on the commission from 1988 through 1991 and was president in 1990.

Lu served in her role as a liaison between the commission and Mt. Lebanon High School, where she is a senior. Classmate Christian Vietmeier will be junior commissioner for the second half of the academic year.

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