With less timber cutting on the Allegheny National Forest, municipal officials in Corydon Township have had to cut all they can from the budget — chopping funding for the volunteer fire department and all road projects for 2016.
Ninety-four percent of the township is comprised of federal forest land, leaving little opportunity for revenue in the township, according to Corydon Township Supervisors chairman Tim Yohe.
Yohe told The Era the township’s forestry fund — its key source of income — has been falling by thousands of dollars every year for the past eight years and is now below $80,000.
Formerly in the ballpark of $180,000, Yohe and his fellow township officials have been trying to make ends meet despite the dwindling fund. In 2013, the forestry fund was at $101,493, and it was at $123,473 the year before.
Last year, they cut $14,000 from the Corydon Township VFD, and they will be keeping it at the same level for the 2016 budget, according to Yohe.
“We have not increased or decreased anything with the fire department,” he said. “We are down to the bare bones, taking care of things we have to such as worker’s compensation and stuff, but it’s probably a 20-year low for them.”
Yohe said the township has cut out all road projects for the coming year. “There is no money to do anything with the roads,” he explained. “We will also have an employee laid off at the end of the plow season.”
The township stopped contributions to the McKean County SPCA and Bradford Area Public Library in 2014 and is unable to resume allocations.
“We’re still way down on our forestry money, and it is getting to the point that it’s crippling us,” Yohe explained, adding, he doesn’t believe the Forest Service is cutting as much timber as it should on the ANF. “With them not cutting, we have to cut (from the budget).
“I’m sure there are probably going to be further cuts in the future because of the state of timber money,” he continued. “The next cut is going to be pretty catastrophic, put it that way.”
Even if the township quadrupled taxes, it wouldn’t fix the financial situation, according to Yohe.
“We have very limited ways to raise revenue. We only get around $7,000 a year in property taxes,” he said. “We have around 275 residents in the township. It’s not fair to raise taxes on the local people who live here to fund the national forest through the local government — that’s the last thing we want to do.”
Yohe said he has been looking for answers, reaching out to the Forest Service and U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., who is the chairman of the Conservation and Forestry Subcommittee in Congress. “I would welcome any calls from the congressman’s office, the forestry office,” he stated.
“With the housing crisis of 2008, demand for hardwoods might be down, but I’ve seen other sawmills start back up and it still doesn’t account for it all,” Yohe said. “I don’t know where the logjam is.”
The budget was agreed upon at last week’s township meeting and is currently posted at the township building at 2474 West Washington St.
Attempts to obtain information about recent timbering activities on the ANF were not successful on Sunday or Monday.
