Dec 13, 2018 By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 3 min read

Mt. Lebanon’s real estate rate remains at 4.71 mills with the adoption of the 2019 municipal operating budget and commissioners’ accompanying approval of next year’s tax rate.

Both measures were unanimous, with Commissioner Kelly Fraasch joining Craig Grella, Steve McLean and Steve Silverman in casting positive votes. John Bendel was not present.

“I normally don’t when it does have deer management included,” Fraasch said, referring in part to an allocation for services that also received approval at the commission’s Dec. 11 meeting.

“I do think this year, there were multiple items that this commission requested of our staff to do, and it was an incredible year to watch them accommodate us in every which way, shape or form,” she explained. “And so I just want to commend the staff for their ability to work with us in making this budget what it is.”

Regarding deer, commissioners voted 3-1 to authorize an agreement with White Buffalo Inc. for removal of up to 75 deer at a cost of $59,605 during sharpshooting program to take place Feb. 1 through March 31.

The municipality launched a deer-management initiative in 2015 with the stated purpose of reducing the number of accidents involving vehicles and the hoofed ruminant mammals. An opponent of deer management since her election to the commission in 2011, Fraasch expressed doubts about reports on local deer-vehicle collisions.

“It’s a mishmash of numbers in which we cannot definitively say it’s doing anything for this community,” she said. “We still see deer here. We kill more deer. We ended up still with accidents. We continue to have a cycle, with our deer program, in which we’re not doing anything.”

Silverman, the commission’s president, disagreed.

“As things are trending, the 2018 deer-vehicular accident numbers will likely drop below the 2015 numbers,” he said. “And the goal, when we started this, was not to eradicate the deer population. It was a 50 percent reduction in DVCs. So as far as a trend line, the program, in my mind, is going in the right direction.”

Fraasch, though, contended that the numbers are back to where they were before the latest deer-management efforts started. The first round took place a decade ago, followed by a hiatus of several years.

Grella suggested looking toward the future.

“I think we should review, from time to time, all of our policies,” he said. “I think that sometime in the future, meaning maybe in the next couple of months, we look at these numbers and decide whether it’s something we want to continue spending money on.”

Such discussions optimally would take place, Silverman said, after the commission receives reports about the winter sharpshooting program and the archery program that is taking place in the fall.