Peters Township Council maintains tax rate, approves 2020 budget
While unanimously voting Dec. 16 to maintain the municipal real estate tax rate at 1.622 mills for the third straight year, Peters Township Council had some dissension in adopting the 2020 operating budget and 2020-24 capital improvement program.
Opposing both next year’s spending plan and five-year recommendation for infrastructure and related improvements were council members Monica Merrell and Gary Stiegel Jr.
“We budgeted in excess of $300,000 to pull together a design for an aquatic center. Meanwhile, the fire chief was told he had to choose between the design of a new fire station or replacing the mansard at the existing station,” Stiegel said. “I think the priorities are out of whack.”
The latter reference was to a Nov. 18 council workshop session that included a discussion about the need for augmented fire protection in the eastern part of the township, where the population has grown substantially in the past few decades.
Since then, council has approved the acquisition of property for construction of a new Peters Township Fire Department station between Bebout Road’s intersections with Timberlake and Conestoga drives. The capital improvement program earmarks $160,000 in 2021 for “new fire station.”
For replacement of the main station’s mansard, the protective steel roof, $125,000 is budgeted for 2020.
“The mansard for Fire Station No. 1 was installed with the building in 1964 and is beginning to rust in certain areas,” according to the justification for the project listed in the capital improvement program. “As Fire Station No. 1 has been renovated over the years, portions of the mansard were replaced, causing the color of the mansard to be inconsistent. In addition, the mansard has been cut in certain areas and reconfigured to allow for new windows to be installed.”
Regarding the $375,000 to be spent in 2020 on a study for an aquatics center at the to-be-developed Rolling Hills Park, the justification states:
“The desire for a township aquatics facility has been reiterated numerous times by residents for several decades, including in the Comprehensive Recreation, Parks and Open Space Plan, when it was identified as the top recreational amenity not provided by the township. The project is considered the anchor recreational facility in the Rolling Hills Park Master Plan.”
Within the capital improvement program, potential expenditures for an aquatics facility are listed as $720,000 in 2022 and $9 million in 2023.
Improvements to the municipal half of the former Rolling Hills Country Club property – Peters Township School District has a new high school under construction on its portion – figure heavily in the township’s spending during 2020.
“A large part of the capital projects beyond what we would normally see is reflective of the fact that we’re going to extend Rolling Hills Drive and realign East McMurray Road in support not only of the park, but the opening of the high school,” township manager Paul Lauer said.
The municipality and school district are splitting the cost of building a new road through the property, a substantial part of which has been completed so far, and relocating a section of East McMurray slightly to the north as a way to mitigate the traffic impact on nearby residences.
Each entity is contributing about $1.8 million, and a $500,000 grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development covers the remainder of the cost.
A 2020 budget item listed as “Rolling Hills Park – Phase 1” calls for spending nearly $6.2 million, much of which is covered by proceeds from a recent $10 million municipal bond issue.
Overall, the bond proceeds cover the budget’s difference in revenues, $23.1 million, vs. expenditures, $33.3 million.
“I think this is an ambitious budget in terms of what we hope to accomplish next year,” Lauer said. “I think it will challenge us, but I’m really confident that we’re up to that challenge.”