Plum Council Notebook: February Voting Meeting

Here's a roundup of items discussed at the Feb. 13 Plum Council meeting:

Lighting at Larry Mills Park

The borough and the Plum Borough Soccer Association are working together to put new lights at .

Assistant borough Manager Greg Bachy said the officials have agreed to pay for the electrical upgrade for the lighting system.

Officials hired Andelmo Engineering of North Huntingdon to work on a design. The $90 per hour cost is not to exceed $2,500.

Officials also approved a 25-year lease with the soccer association. Provisions of a loan and work for the lights on the field were included in the lease agreement.

Longwood Tax Settlement

Plum Council and the Plum Borough School Board have come to an agreement with Longwood at Oakmont—a retirement community—that would prevent it from seeking tax exempt status through 2017.

Borough manager Mike Thomas said the borough would receive about $92,000 in property taxes for 2010. That amount will increase to $102,000 by 2017.

However, the borough must give Longwood a $70,000 refund for taxes paid in 2010 and 2011.

Longwood's refund for the school district amounts to $491,280 for taxes paid in 2010 and 2011.

Plum Borough Mayor Rich Hrivnak said he is opposed to the agreement.

"The borough needs every penny it can at this point," he said. "I think in these trying financial times, it would be my hope that we could fight this to continue to receive the revenue."

Councilman Mike Dell said that if Longwood were to receive tax exempt status, the borough would be losing out on much more than $70,000 because it wouldn't receive any taxes.

"At some point, you have to make a business decision," he said.

Parking on Abers Creek Road

Officials agreed to prohibit parking on a section of Abers Creek Road.

There currently is a Park-and-Ride lot at the , and Bachy said a lot of motorists have been parking on Abers Creek Road.

"The bus can't get through there some days because of the parking," Bachy said.