The Bradford Township Supervisors passed a motion to advertise the 2018 proposed budget — with a potential tax increase — for public review in December, along with several other motions at Monday’s meeting.
The proposed budget involved possibly raising taxes, but the supervisors seemed to be in disagreement with the proposal.
Supervisor Gayle Bauer recommended raising taxes by 1 mill from the current 4 mill to 5 mill.
She reasoned that it would help with the deficit, as projected income for 2018 was just over $1.3 million while expenses are at just over $2 million.
Supervisor Steve Mascho disagreed with the amount of a tax hike, citing the lack of new jobs and income in the township. Supervisor Jim Erwin shared Mascho’s sentiment, stating that the people of Bradford Township are “dealing with enough hardship as it is.”
Bauer continued to press for the tax increase, stating, “We are still spending more than we’re taking in, even without fluff and extra spending.”
Erwin acknowledged that it is inevitable that taxes will have to be increased, “sooner or later.” Bauer followed up by stating, “That’s what we said last year.”
Disagreements continued during the meeting when a motion to hire a full-time road department employee was discussed. While Bauer and Erwin agreed to pass the motion, Mascho adamantly opposed it, stating that there was no need to hire a full-time employee for plowing while other township department workers are still readily available to plow, as they have done in the past.
He added he believes the motion was in violation of the Sunshine Law — a law requiring certain proceedings of government agencies to be open or available to the public.
“This was already done before we even had this meeting,” Mascho said. “The man already knew he was getting the job before we ever brought it to the public’s attention.”
After the meeting, Mascho told a reporter that this hasn’t been the first time he felt the Sunshine Law has been violated regarding township business.
Bauer said that the Sunshine Law was not violated, but instead the advertising, interviewing and hiring was proposed and passed in a previous meeting in a 2-1 vote.
“(Mascho) was present for the meeting as well as the interviewing,” Bauer said. “He even agreed that the guy we hired, William Kerr, was the best guy for the job.”
Bauer added that, according to the township’s attorney, once someone is hired, “All we have to do is ratify that person at the next meeting and give the rate of hire — which we did do.”
Bauer also said Kerr hasn’t started working yet, and he will do so in the days following Monday’s meeting.
Mascho also disagreed with two motions passed by the other two supervisors to switch to the software Quickbooks for accounting purposes. Bauer and Erwin agreed the software would help ease the accounting process for the township.
