By Christine Haines
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Elizabeth Borough Council Wednesday adopted a $1.08 million budget with a 1.5 mill property tax increase.
The new real estate tax rate will be 10 mills, up from 8.5 mills in 2020. The increase amounts to $15 per $10,000 of assessed property value. The budget was adopted without further discussion. The borough will be getting a $100,000 tax anticipation note from First Commonwealth Bank.
In other matters, council approved a resolution setting a flat fee of $75 for residents to have dumpsters on the street at their homes for up to 30 days. There was some debate as to whether the 30-day period would cause problems in the community or if it would be difficult to enforce shorter periods of time. Previous permit periods were for seven days.
Council adopted the ordinance with Councilman Andy Miklos voting no after Solicitor Krish DiMascio said the fee schedule could be changed as needed.
The borough’s garbage hauler, BFI, submitted a request to council to change the collection day in the borough from Fridays to Thursdays. DiMascio said she would need to review the contract before council voted on the issue.
“If the contract says it has to be a certain day, we would have to amend the contract. I’m not comfortable changing a contract without reading it,” DiMascio said.
Council also voted to consider the street opening fees for Pennsylvania American Water from 2014-2017 paid in full after the water company provided assistance to the borough removing parking bump outs in the downtown area and helped repair a sinkhole that had opened up on a borough street. The permit fees totaled $4,875.
“They probably did $10,000 worth of work or more,” said council President Chad Rager.
Mayor Barry Boucher was appointed to fill a two-year term on the Elizabeth Borough Municipal Authority previously held by Paul Shaner.
Three members of council will serve as the borough’s Quality of Life hearing board. Appointed to that board were Jocelyn Smrdel, Desiree Gephart and Tim Guffey.